Atherton, Chalmers, C1 Lead Swimming Australia Award Nominations

The 2019 Swimming Australia awards are set to be handed out on Sunday, November 24th in Sydney and we now know who is in the running for the annual prestigious honors.

Newly-minted short course 100 backstroke World Record holder Minna Atherton has been nominated as the Short Course Program Swimmer of the Year. St. Peters Western World Champion Ariarne Titmus and Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Griffith University join her on the 3-person shortlist for the award.

Atherton became the first-ever female to dip under the 55-second threshold in the SCM 100 back, clocking a monster WR time of 54.89 at the International Swimming League (ISL) meet in Budapest late last month.

As for the Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year award, Titmus, Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers are all included among the nominees.

Titmus took down American Olympic icon Katie Ledecky in the women’s 400m free at this summer’s World Championships. She also snagged 200m free silver, 800m free bronze, as well as helped bring the Aussie women’s gold medal-winning 4x200m freestyle relay to World Record-holder status in Gwangju, Korea.

For C1‘s part, the NSWIS swimmer was just named the women’s overall World Cup winner for the 2019 season. That was after she soared to mixed medley and women’s 400m free relay gold medals in Gwangju. At those World Championships, Campbell also took silver in the women’s 100m free and bronze in the 50m free.

McKeon and Chalmers were also big-time swimmers in Gwangju, with the former taking bronze in the 100m fly, as well as being a critical contributor to relays. McKeon earned gold as a member of the women’s 4x200m free World Record-setting squad, while also clinching gold in the 400 free relay. She snagged an additional gold in the mixed medley, as well as silvers in the women’s medley and mixed free relays.

Chalmers put up the fastest 100m free time of his career in 47.08 to put up a valiant effort against the winner, American speedster Caeleb Dressel. Chalmers’ previous PB in the event stood at 47.35 at his nation’s Worlds Trials. The Marion swimmer also scored gold on the men’s 4x200m free relay, silver on the mixed free relay and bronze on the men’s 400 free relay.

The representative coaches of these athletes were also recognized as nominees for Olympic Coach of the Year, including Dean Boxall of St. Peters Western, Michael Bohl of Griffith University, Simon Cusack (Knox Pymble) and Peter Bishop (SASI).

Additional nominees for the Swimming Australia awards include the following:

Discovery of the Year:

Youth Coach:

  • Scott Talbot (Nunawading)
  • Dean Boxall (St. Peters Western)
  • Mick Palfrey (WAIS)
  • Nick Valiades (MLC)

Club of the Year:

  • Ballarat Swimming Club, VIC
  • Barossa Swimming Club, SA
  • Guildford and Kalamunda Districts Swimming Club, WA

Local Legend of the Year:

  • Josh Barila, Mildura Swimming Club
  • Ron Barnes, Breakers Swim Club
  • Michelle Parker, Alice Springs Swimming Club
  • Matt Roberts, Nambucca Aquatic Swim Club

Technical Official of the Year:

  • Paul Carter
  • Faye Lewis
  • Jackie Madden
  • Denise McLaughlin

Open Water Coach:

  • John ‘JR’ Rodgers, Noosa
  • Chris Nesbit, TSS Aquatics
  • Michael Sage, Kawana Waters

Paralympic Coach:

  • Jon Bell, Monte
  • Harley Connolly, Belgravia Swim Team
  • Andrew Howard, Central Cairns
  • Simon Cusack, Knox Pymble

Open Water Program Swimmer:

Paralympic Program Swimmer:

  • Tiffany Thomas Kane, Monte
  • Ellie Cole, Knox Pymble
  • Grant Patterson, Central Cairns
  • Lakeisha Patterson, Belgravia Swim Team
  • Jesse Aungles, Marion

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Skippy
4 years ago

I agree with the inclusion of a youth award, especially so if senior swimmers are going to skip domestic competition in favour of the more exciting ISL format. The exception to the solid year for Australian Swimming is its Paralympic Program. 34 swimmers and 23 staff (under the long time management of Australian Olympic Swimmer Adam Pine (since 2013)) finished their Worlds campaign in an embarrassing 15th position with the only gold medals going to Tiffany Thomas-Kane and her controversial team mate Lakeisha Patterson, both award nominees I note.

Torchbearer
4 years ago

A very solid year for Australian swimming…now for the Olympic year…mmm

Joel
4 years ago

They should have a junior team member award . Tom Neill and Lani Pallister for example both won multiple medals at junior worlds . Also Bronte Job and Meg Harris . Or Gaby Peiniger and Tom Hauck who won open races at the recent Australian short course champs . ( whilst the older swimmers were at the ISL ) and Hauck and Kinder broke numerous records each at State Teams, a few of them were held by Olympians .

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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