2026 Australian Age Championships
- April 11-18, 2026
- Gold Coast Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50 Meters)
- Meet Central
- Heat Sheets
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Live Results
The 2026 Australian Age Championships continued with additional impressive outings at the hands of the nation’s rising stars.
15-year-old Bryce Krause of Fairholme got it done for gold in his age category’s 100m backstroke event.
The teen clock a time of 56.85 to get under the 57-second barrier for the first time in his young career.
Entering this competition, Krause’s lifetime best checked in at the 57.19 notched just last month.
Tonight it was Somerville House Aquatic’s Thomas Symonds who cleaned up the silver in 57.20, followed by Lawrence’s Timothy Wellm who rounded out the podium in 57.70.
However, Krause wasn’t done, racing on his squad’s 15-16-year-old medley relay.
Krause led off with a super quick 50m back opener of 25.73.
That not only represented another personal best but it also overtook Olympian Isaac Cooper‘s 50m Aussie Age Record of 25.80. Krause now simultaneously holds the 13-year, 14-year and 15-year boys’ Australian record for the 50m backstroke.
On the girls’ side, 17-year-old Amelie Smith of Rocky City put on a show in the 17-and-18-year-old girls’ 1500m freestyle race.
Smith put up a time of 16:52.31 to register the sole outing of the field to clear the 17:00 barrier en route to capturing her fourth gold medal of the competition.
After the race, Smith told Swimming Australia, “My main goal for this year is to make the Commonwealth Games team for the 400IM … that’s what I’ll be targeting at Trials.”
14yr Girls’ 200m Individual Medley: Lucy Ma (MLC Aquatic) secured her fourth national title of the meet, stopping the clock at 2:18.28 to win the 14y girls’ 200m individual medley by over two seconds. In a tight battle for the minor medals, Roxanne Albertyn (Miami – 2:20.40) claimed silver by just 0.06 seconds ahead of Charlotte Lim (Carlile – 2:20.46).
16yr Boys’ 400m Freestyle: Distance prodigy Lincoln Wearing delivered a dominant performance in the 16yr boys’ 400m freestyle final, smashing out a 3:48.64 to finish almost five seconds clear of the field. Nudgee College’s Daniel Van Luik (3:53.59) placed second ahead of Singaporean visitor Russel Pang (3:55.20). Jesse Hamilton (Chandler – 3:57.06) picked up a bronze as the third Australian home.
53.76 for allan
That is 0.04 off his pb
Struggling to swim straight outside
No Toohey in 50 Breast?
Didn’t enter the 50 or 200 here.
She already did it last week, no need to repeat. And also might be good to just go home now and not waste time at the Gold Coast
It’s actually crazy to me that we could have an elite freestyle relay team in Brisbane between Stotz, Cunningham, Haegebaert and maybe Dunn, Montana and Allan too depending on how that develops. Southam, Sommerville, Giuliani, and Taylor will all still be 27-29 (+ Kyle if he sticks around) so it could be extremely competitive.
(Could be alleviated if Sommerville and Giuliani just focus on 200)
+ Moclair, Conias (maybe?)…..Ismail, Wang at the younger end
Moclair is almost already a 50 specialist. Jamie Jack is still training for the 100 relay while knowing the 50 is his better event
I’m dismayed that 100s are being dispensed with, at an age of just 18 or so.
But perhaps that is happening now.
Also (in effect) rules out future national relay team representation – a big call.
Well you can blame Cam McEvoy for some of it. When you’re holding your breath for 25 seconds and just sending it, without a turn, it really does feel like a unique event.
In athletics, a lot of runners can do both the 100m and 200m, but there are certainly specialists for both distances as well.
I don’t think we’ll really get this for 50 back or 50 breast as much because the differences between 50 and 100 isn’t as much as 50 and 100 free.
Cotroneo possibly too. Wouldn’t surprise me if he goes 48 here. Already been 49.2 and appears to have improved since then.
22.39 for Ethan Haegerbaert in 50 Free.
Took me longer to get the spelling of his name correct.
and it’s still not correct lol
I pulled an extra ‘r’ out of nowhere.
Haegebaert just bombs a 22.39 right off the bat omg
Haegebaert 22.39 in the heats, equal-4th fastest all-time and only 0.06 away from kyle’s record
His 50 improved by more than his 100. Is he another one opting for the McEvoy path? 🙄
Was it a mixed medley relay? Does it count?
Back leads off the relay so it’s counted just like any freestyle relay first swim is an official time. Pretty sure Isaac Coopers time was done in a relay too.
Yeah but MIXED medley never counted until recently and I’m not sure if swimming australia also changed their policy
They must have because they announced it as a record on social media.
Yeah it would be unusual for a federation not to adopt the AQUA policy on something like this.
Until very recently, mixed-gender relay leadoff legs were not allowed for records. World Aquatics recently changed that policy, so presume Australia did too.