2024 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 14th – December 20th
- Brisbane Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Draft Entries
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
Day two of the 2024 Queensland Championships unfolded from Brisbane with age groupers getting the chance to race against world-class talent from throughout Australia.
20-year-old Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan was among the elite racers on day two, taking on the women’s 100m backstroke event.
The St. Peters Western star produced a time of 59.51 for the gold, registering the sole sub-minute outing of the field.
O’Callaghan opened in 29.11 and closed in 30.40 in this post-Olympic debut competition for the versatile ace. Her prelims time was also beneath the minute barrier at 59.73.
Teammate Hannah Fredericks nabbed the silver tonight in 1:00.76 while Bond’s Layla Day landed on the podium in 1:00.94 for bronze.
The men’s 100m back saw Somerset’s Mark Nikolaev get the job done, hitting 54.73 to defeat Thomas Henderson of Brisbane Grammar narrowly.
Henderson touched just .17 behind in 54.90 for silver while St. Andrew’s Lewis Blackburn got to the wall just .09 later in 54.99 as the bronze medalist.
A handful of records were broken as several age groupers stole the spotlight in Melbourne.
Just 12 years of age, Grayson Coulter of New Zealand produced a monster time of 1:54.40 top his age category’s 200m freestyle event.
After hitting 1:54.76 in the prelims, this youngster shaved another .36 off to carry an over 10-second advantage over the field.
Coulter split 26.07/28.56/29.95/29.82 to utterly destroy the previous Queensland All Comers Record of 1:59.11 Japan’s Kato Kosei put on the books in 2015. As a refresher, All Comers Records are akin to U.S. Open Records and represent the fastest time put up by a swimmer of any nation on Australian soil.
Coulter’s result is especially eye-opening as the 12-year-old’s previous personal best in this 2free rested at the 1:59.68 produced just this past summer. For additional perspective, his time would have obliterated the current U.S. National Age Group Record of 1:59.72 Winn Aung established in 2015.
Japan’s Michika Enomoto topped the boy’s 14-year-old 100m butterfly podium in a time of 54.94. That erased the former Queensland All Comers Record of 55.19 Damian Fyfe put up over a decade ago in 2012.
Enomoto split 25.66/29.28 to get the gold with the next-closest swimmer represented by Moreton Bay’s Angus Cran who touched in 56.24. Toji Ito, also of Japan, bagged bronze in 58.59.
Finally, 15-year-old Leny Grigor of Somerset pounded out a new Australian Age Record in the men’s 400m IM.
The teen crushed a huge lifetime best of 4:20.73 to overtake Olympic medalist Mitch Larkin‘s former age record for 15-year-olds of 4:25.45 established in 2009.
Grigor split 58.31/1:07.18/1:11.81/1:03.43 to beat the field by over 13 seconds en route to turning in the new record.
Additional Notes
- Tea Tree Gully’s Brittany Castelluzzo topped the women’s 200m free podium in a result of 1:57.91, a time within striking distance of the 24-year-old’s lifetime best of 1:56.77 from this year’s Australian Olympic Trials. She was the sole swimmer of tonight’s field to crack the 2:00 barrier. Jamie Perkins of SPW collected silver in 2:00.57 and USC Spartans’ Abbey Connor turned in 2:01.19 for bronze.
- Visiting Chinese swimmer Zhao Yi Pu, just 17, posted the fastest result of the men’s open 200m free. Zhao hit the wall in 1:48.73 to clear the field by well over a second. Churchie’s Anders McAlpine was next in 1:50.28 followed by Harvey Larke of Caulfield who registered 1:50.57 for 3rd place.
- All Saints swimmer Julia Remington was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m breast. The 17-year-old struck gold in 2:27.37, although 20-year-old Sienna Harben of Bond was immediately behind in 2:27.71. Another 17-year-old, Hayley Mackinder of Griffith University, rounded out the podium in 2:30.27.
- Bailey Lello of Chandler earned gold in the men’s 200m breast in 2:11.03, holding a healthy advantage over 20-year-old teammate Finlay Schuster who turned in a time of 2:12.98 for silver. Nudgee College swimmer Lachlan Gilbert touched in 2:15.82 for bronze.
1:54 at 12 is incomprehensible. What’s the fastest 12 year old of all time?
He is. Used to be Kato Kosei (mentioned in the article) with a 1:56
So many young Japanese swimmers set fast times at this meet and then are never heard of again. Mainly 12-14 year olds. Someone suggested it was because of their high school demands.