Australian Worlds Qualifier Charlie Hawke To Join Damien Jones’ Rackley Group After Singapore

Australian World Championships qualifier Charlie Hawke has confirmed to SwimSwam that he will join Damien Jones‘ group at Rackley Centenary in Brisbane. He will make the move after the World Championships in Singapore conclude on August 3.

Hawke, who competed for Kerry Saunders and Shane Arnold at Hunter through his childhood, recently wrapped up a four-year career with the University of Alabama in the United States.

He confirmed to SwimSwam that his Alabama coaches have written his workouts through Trials and will continue to write them through the World Championships. He is completing them at Rackley before all of the Aussie Worlds qualifiers head to Darwin for a training camp.

Hawke joins a highly-stacked freestyle group at Rackley, which houses the 2023 World Champion in the 400 free, Sam Short. Short also won silver in the 800 and bronze in the 1500 at those Worlds, with his 800 time situating him 4th on the all-time world rankings list. Short struggled at the Paris Olympics last summer, placing 4th in the 400 free and missing the finals in both the 800 free (9th) and 1500 free (13th) after illness and injury setbacks leading up to the Games.

Short recently swept the 400-1500 events at the Trials and also nabbed 2nd in the 200 free in his first time ever venturing under the 1:46 threshold in 1:45.71. The group also includes two-time Olympian in the 200 free Tommy Neill, who owns a best time of 1:45.74 from the Tokyo Games where he was 9th. Neill touched 10th in Paris last summer in 1:46.18 and hasn’t competed since the Paris Olympics. 50 free Olympic silver medalist Meg Harris also trains under Jones’ guidance.

At the Australian Trials last month in Adelaide, Hawke logged a massive best time of 1:46.42 in the heats of the 200 free to qualify 4th through to the final. He then dropped a few more tenths to check in at 1:46.10, taking 4th overall and making the Dolphins’ World Championship squad as a part of the 4×200 free relay pool.

He also contested the 100 free, where he hit the wall 10th in 49.27, less than a tenth away from his November 2023 best time of 49.18. In the 50 fly, he nabbed 16th in 24.54 after popping a career-best 24.39 during prelims. He swam the 400 free heats in a personal best of 3:53.77, his fastest since setting his previous PB of 3:54.93 at the Australian Trials back in 2023, but opted out of contesting the ‘B’ final.

Hawke’s performance at the Trials last month was a bit of a redemption of sorts after what transpired over the previous two seasons. Back at the 2023 Trials, he swam to a huge lifetime best of 1:47.41 in the 200 free in prelims, qualifying 3rd into the final. Despite dropping to 1:47.25, he fell to 7th, missing a bid to the Australian Worlds team for Fukuoka as only the top six are considered for selection.

Fast forward to the Olympic Trials a year later, he was 12th in 1:48.34, out of the ‘A’ final altogether with a 1:47.58 required to make the grade into that top heat.

At the NCAA Championships this past March, Hawke made a pair of ‘A’ final appearances in the 200 and 500 free events, notching personal bests in both with times of 1:30.14 (4th) and 4:09.52 (6th), both Alabama school records. His 500 time comes from prelims before he logged 4:09.58 in the final, just six hundredths slower than his morning effort.

While his 2025 NCAA times were faster, he had actually placed higher in 2024, finishing 4th in the 200 free (1:30.58) and 5th in the 500 free (4:11.40). He had previously finished 16th in the 200 free at the 2023 NCAAs in 1:33.27.

Hawke won the 2023 SEC title in the 200 free, upgrading from bronze the year prior in 2022, before touching 2nd this past year.