Joshua Edwards-Smith Lowers Own Aussie Age Record In 200 Back

2019 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 14th – Friday, December 20th
• 12/14 – relays only; 12/18 – 12/20 age-groupers
• Brisbane Aquatic Center
• LCM
• Meet Site/Entry List
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 (Relays) Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Live Results

While competing on day 3 of non-relay action at the 2019 Queensland Championships, 16-year-old Joshua Edwards-Smith lowered his own Australian Age Record en route to taking the men’s open 200m backstroke state title.

The UWA West Coast teen had already held the Australian Age Record in the event with the 1:57.82 he produced at the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Swimming Championships in Adelaide this past April. Splits for his performance there included 57.76/1:00.06 to give him the age title in a new record time.

Tonight in Brisbane, however, Edwards-Smith sliced .04 off of that outing to lower his record down to 1:57.78. Splits for the teen included 57.82/59.96, getting him under the minute mark on both halves of the race this time around.

His time gave him the overall open 200m back title at these Queensland Championships, holding just under a second advantage over the next closes racer in New Zealand’s Andrew Jeffocoat, who finished in 1:58.51.

Edwards-Smith’s time tonight would have taken the gold medal at this year’s World Junior Championships. There in Budapest, Edwards-Smith couldn’t quite replicate the type of performance that got him to the meet, settling for the painstaking 9th slot out of the heats in a time of 2:00.13.

Now that he’s back under the 2:00 threshold, the teen is on the right path towards ultimately joining the elite ranks of senior Aussie backstrokers to the tune of Mitch Larkin and Bradley Woodward.