2026 NEW SOUTH WALES SENIOR METRO CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, February 13th – Sunday, February 15th
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC)
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Start List
The 2026 New South Wales Senior Metro Championships took place over the weekend at the Sydney Olympicn Park Aquatic Centre with 19-year-old Olivia Wunsch putting on a show across five events.
The rising Aussie star took on the women’s 50m fly, 50m back, 100m free, 200m free and 50m free events, topping the podium in each for a total of five gold medals.
In the 50m fly, Wunsch stopped the clock at 26.65 to get the job done, clearing the field in the sole time under the 27-second barrier.
18-year-old teammate Jess Cole was next to the wall in 27.30 while there was a tie for 3rd place between Zannah Dixon and Jamie De Lutiis. Both women hit 27.44 to share that tier of the podium.
As for Wunsch, her lifetime best in this 50m fly event rests at the 26.34 she registered at last year’s Vic Open then again two months later at the Australian Age Championships.
Wunsch turned in a time of 30.48 as the fastest women’s 50m backstroker, holding off Claudia Wiliams who settled for silver just over half a second behind in 31.12. Dixon earned another piece of hardware, securing bronze once again in 31.41.
The 100m freestyle saw Wunsch post a solid in-season result of 53.90 to take the decisive victory over her competitors. The teen opened in 26.12 and closed in 27.78 to capture her 3rd medal and check in with the 7th-best time of her career.
Wunsch’s lifetime best remains at the 53.38 notched at the 2024 Australian Olympic Trials.
De Lutiis snagged silver in 56.32 and Audrey Jackson rounded out the podium in 57.52. a new lifetime best for the 18-year-old.
Wunsch tapped the timepad in 2:01.40 to reap the top spot in the 200m free.
Although that was well outside her career-quickest effort of 1:58.97, it was enough to defeat the field by nearly two seconds en route to victory.
And, finally, in the 50m free, Wunsch got to the wall in a result of 25.08 ahead of teammates De Lutiis and Dixon who hit times of 26.05 and 27.32, respectively.
Wunsch’s time was within striking distance of her 24.70 PB from 2024 Trials.
Retta, thanks for the report on this Sydney meet. A couple of corrections: Olivia Wunsch’s 100 Free PB is 53.17 from 2024 Olympic Trials (not 53.38) and her 50 Free PB is 24.45 from the same Olympic Trials (not 24.70).
It’s early days but Jaimie de Lutiis’s times at this meet were disappointing. 56.32 in 100 Free and 2:04.72 in 200 Free. 2.42 and 3.32 seconds behind her 2023 World Juniors teammate Wunsch.
maybe De Lutis needs a change of coaches for some new motivation if shes thinking shes swimming in Wunsch’s shadow…
De Lutiis switched from Wests Illawarra to Carlile in the latter part of last year. So it’s a bit early to consider a change of coach already. Time will tell.
Wunsch and De Lutiis were at the recent relay camp at Canberra with the other 4×100 Free women. Shayna Jack was there. Didn’t see Mollie in the pictures:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DUKNyQTk5Y5/?img_index=1
Mollie was probably overseas on the annual ST Peters camp.
Could be. I see Alex Perkins was there in some pics Shayna put up on insta. Maybe Mollie was there and just missed out on the photo ops.
I think Shayna, Alex, and Meg were at relay camp, while the St. Peters are in Thailand. I imagine many of them will be going to the NSW Open from March 6-8.
She just switched coaches.
It takes a while for things to work after changing coaches. She will bounce back