Jack Cartwright is an Australian sprint freestyle specialist who is a world champion and world record holder.
Cartwright emerged as one Australia’s rising talents after picking up six medals at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in 2016, including four golds. The Queenslander trains under Dean Boxall at St. Peters Western in Brisbane. He made the switch when his pool in the rural town of Biloela shut down and his family made the sacrifice to move to Brisbane to support his swimming dreams. His mother, Michelle, even quit her teaching job to help Cartwright with his studies while balancing his athletics. The sacrifices clearly paid off and at 18 years old he qualified for his first senior international meet at the 2017 World Championships.
International Career
Cartwright caught the world of swimming’s attention at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui by winning four gold medals. He started the meet just edging out his Aussie teammate, Louis Townsend, in a head-to-head battle in the 200 meter freestyle. Cartwright took the gold in 1:47.68 just 0.05 ahead of his compatriot. The pair both went under USA’s Townley Haas’ old Pan Pac record of 1:48.29. The next day he topped the podium again in the 100 meter freestyle after breaking the meet record in the prelims in 48.91. He completed the sprint freestyle treble with a gold in the 50 meter freestyle touching in 22.28. He added a medal of each colour in relay swims with a gold in the 4×200 meter freestyle, silver in the 4×100 meter freestyle and bronze in the 4×100 meter medley relay.
2017 World Championships
Cartwright qualified for the World Championships after putting on a stunning display at the Australian Trials while battling with bronchitis.
At 18 years old, Cartwright made his World Championships debut in Budapest where he made the final in the 100 meter freestyle. He qualified for the final after posting a personal best time of 47.97. In the final he couldn’t beat that time and finished an 7th in 48.24 in a stacked field. He was also on the Australian 4×200 meter freestyle relay that finished 4th in the final and the 4×100 meter freestyle relay that was disqualified.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships
Cartwright started things off well on day 2 of pan pacs. In his individual 100 free, he tied reigning world champ Caeleb Dressel for silver at 48.22. Soon after, Cartwright was back in the pool anchoring (1:45.52) Australia’s 4×200 relay, where they were narrowly beat out by the USA, garnering Cartwright his second silver of the night. On day 3, he led off Australia’s 4×100 free relay (48.56) that finished 3rd overall, but ultimately wound up winning the silver after USA was DQ’ed for swimming in the wrong order.
ISL – Cali Condors
On June 11, 2019, Jack Cartwright was announced as a member of the Cali Condors ISL team, headed by GM Jason Lezak
2022 World Championships
In Budapest, Cartwright started his campaign on the 400 free relay, where he split 47.62 on the 3rd leg to help Australia secure silver behind the USA.
Cartwright also swam on the mixed 400 free relay on day 7, where he led off in 48.12. The relay went onto break the world record, netting gold for Cartwright.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
Cartwright took on multiple relay duties and came away from worlds with several medals. In the 400 free relay, Cartwright led off the prelims squad with a 48.29. In the finals, he was better with a quick 47.84 lead-off. The time seems to be the best time ever for Cartwright and helped Australia to the gold medal. In the heats of the mixed 400 free relay, Cartwright was 47.81 and in the final, he led off in 48.14 as Australia claimed another gold and took down the world record.
