Mat Thompson, part of the broadcast team for the 2026 Australian Swimming Trials, dropped a bomb of a newsbreak during Tuesday’s prelims session in Sydney.
Thompson revealed that South African swimmer Matt Sates is seeking Australian citizenship with the intention of representing the country internationally in the future.
While Thompson’s news was light on details, the move would be big for Sates, who has been a high potential swimmer whose long course career has not yet paned out on the international stage.
The 22-year-old represented South Africa at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games. In Tokyo, Sates finished 32nd in the 100 fly and 14th in the 200 IM. At the Paris Games, he finished 35th in the 100 fly, 20th in the 200 fly, and 21st in the 200 IM.
A better swimmer in short course, he is the South African Record holder in the 200 free, 400 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM in short course meters. He was the 2022 World Short Course Champion int he 200 IM, and the bronze medalist at that meet in the 400 IM. All of those records and medals were done as a teenager.
Sates is coached in South Africa by Wayne Riddin. He had a brief stint in the United States at the University of Georgia, where he was the 2022 national champion in the 500 yard freestyle.
Sates would not be a given to make the Australian international teams. His best time in the 200 IM in long course is 1:57.43, and his best time in the 200 free is 1:45.91.
That 200 free time might be enough to stake a claim on a leg as part of a young, and rapidly improving, Australian 800 free relay. His best time in the 200 IM, now more than four years old, would just slide under Australia’s Priority 1 Nomination Time for this year’s Commonwealth Games (1:57.49).
In Tuesday’s heats, Sates swam 1:48.03 in the 200 free to rank 15th. He was ineligible to swim in the A-Final as a visitor, so his swim in the B-Final may be more telling of his form at this meet.
A recent update to World Aquatics’ rules only requires a one year absence from representing a prior country to change sporting citizenship.
Sates’ last representation of South Africa came at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. That means he wouldn’t be eligible to represent Australian until after the Commonwealth Games, if otherwise qualified, at the earliest – though Pan Pacs could be theoretically in play.
My mans thinks he’s Ilya Kharun from the southern hemisphere
Not everyone has what it takes to be Mr Worldwide !
We need more details on this please SwimSwam!
Him showing up at Georgia for like 20 minutes and winning the 500 at NCAAs is still insanely funny to me
What was even more comical was the way he swam the 500. 350 cruise, 150 sprint.
Ya it doesn’t make sense to me on face value. The Australian men’s team while isn’t super deep, but is certainly deeper than the South African men’s team. Maybe he is more interested in winning medals and feels like an individual medal is out of reach but a relay medal with Australia is likely? Or maybe he really likes living and training in Australia?
Maybe both. I think it absolutely makes sense from a relay perspective
swimming australia’s funding is also much better than south africa’s (pretty much non-existent)
Okay