New Zealand’s 9-member Olympic squad may be chomping at the bit for the 2024 Games to begin just days from now in Paris, but the nation’s rising age group stars are still putting in the work at competitions at home.
12-year-old Grayson Coulter has been making a name for himself across the domestic junior circuit, recently putting up some head-turning times that would rank among the best at such powerhouse swimming nations as the United States.
While racing at the 2024 Golden Homes Swimfest in Auckland late last month, Coulter of North Short Swim Club registered a new lifetime best of 1:59.68 in the boy’s 12-year-old 200m freestyle.
The youngster split 27.28/30.38 (58.16)/30.78/30.74 (1:01.52) to handily defeat the field en route to clocking his first-ever performance under the 2:00 barrier.
Last March we reported how Coulter clocked a time of 2:01.28 at the New Zealand Age Group & Open Championships, a time which would have rendered the swimmer the 4th-best performer among the 11-12-year-old boy set in the U.S.
His 1:59.68 now would check in as a new U.S. National Age Group Record (NAG), beating the current standard of 1:59.72 Winn Aung put on the books in 2015.
We’ll keep an eye on Coulter as he continues to compete and most likely progresses both at home and abroad.
Fast times for 12 year old boys!
Out of curiosity, how did Winn Aung fare over the span of time between setting the US national age group record in 2015 and now? Is he still competing? I reckon he would now be about 21 years old, which is the point in time that most young men are just reaching their athletic prime.
The author mentions keeping an eye on Grayson Coulter “as he continues to compete and most likely progresses both at home and abroad”.
Why not just say something like “ we hope Coulter continues to have fun and swim fast” rather than imply he’ll be competing internationally when he’s older.
He peaked
Winn Aung was a very matured 12 year old towering over others, probably near his current height of 5’10”
He competed for the University of Tampa. His peak as a swimmer was around 15 y/o 21-46-140 freestyle in scy.