Courtesy: Swimming Australia
Rising teen star Mia Hogan was the ironwoman to Declan Budd’s ironman on the second night of finals at the Australian Age Championships at Brisbane Aquatic Centre tonight.
Between them, the teenagers racked up 11 races in 135 minutes for a glittering haul of nine golds and one bronze in their respective age groups.
For Albury Swim Club’s Hogan, it was almost a clean sweep but a disqualification in the 50m free – for moving on the block before the start – cost her the perfect night with the 13-year-old settling for five gold.
It’s been a rapid fire few months for the S13 para swimmer after making her international racing debut at 12 years of age in February at the 2025 World Para Series hosted in Melbourne.
Hogan – who is visually impaired and trains under Wayne Gould – was the youngest entrant and won the women’s 50m breaststroke which has her flagged for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, LA 2028 Paralympics and beyond.
And for Budd, an S14 athlete, the odds have shortened on earning his Dolphins’ pin.
A world short course record in 2024 put pathway coaches on notice and accelerated Budd’s Paralympic dreams and tonight’s haul of four gold and one bronze in the 16-18 years age bracket was a just reward for an impressive recent National Event Camp.
Tonight’s racing also saw Sunshine Coast Grammar student Grace Brimelow (pictured), who represented Australia in para-triathlon at the Paris Paralympics, win silver in the 100m multi-class freestyle for 16-18 years girls, backing up from her gold-medal swim in the 400m free on the opening night of competition.
Brimelow is set to make waves in the runway to LA2028 and Brisbane 2032 Games but whether that is in swimming or para-triathlon remains a work in progress.
The 17-year-old revealed on pool deck that the appeal of Agitos – the red, blue and green Paralympic symbol – will see her strive for dual representative honours across both sports ahead of LA28.
“I am hoping to make it in both swimming and triathlon for LA … I mean swimming wants me to swim and triathlon want me to do triathlon but it’s my choice in the end. When I chose triathlon instead of swimming last year I cried because it was just so tough for me to make the decision between one or the other. I just love both,” she said.
“Communication was a huge takeaway for me and my coach and team from Paris. Overall, it was an amazing experience and to take that experience away and apply it in every day is incredible.
“Everyone said that the Paralympic experience (would be) unbelievable and that you can’t really explain it and I didn’t really believe that. But when I got there I was like ‘woah this is an amazing experience!’
“I saw (Australian triathlete) Lauren Parker; Lakeisha Patterson and Scooter (Grant Patterson) in the Athletes’ Village, that was pretty cool. I also was there with my friend Callum Simpson, we’ve been friends since we were little so that was incredible to experience to be in Paris with him.
“Knowing that LA is going to be next (after) Paris is mind blowing. It will be incredible.”
Brimelow, a S9 swimmer, will be 24 when the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games happen.
“It will mean so much for Australia, and I think it will mean so much to everyone that competes in Brisbane … Brisbane 2032 will be magnificent.”
Brimelow was born with Cri du Chat syndrome (a rare genetic disorder caused by missing pieces on a particular chromosome), which impacts her physical capacity, strength and cognition.
In other events:
- Aspiring Paralympian Victoria Belando Nicholson won her first medal of the meet – a gold in the girls 16-18years 100m freestyle multi-class. Belando Nicholson (S9) also placed second in the 50m freestyle behind Kael Thompson (S14) who boosted her gold medal tally to three. The Sunshine Coast swimmer has been a sprint sensation this meet winning the 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly in her age group.
- Brisbane boy Thomas Stegeman (S10) won the boys 14-15 years 100m freestyle multi-class, followed by Tom Ainsworth (S10) from Southern Performance and Shore’s Byron Bradley (S15). Stegeman also claimed gold in the boys 14-15 years 50m freestyle and silver in the 100m backstroke, bringing the Ambrose Treacy College swimmer’s competition tally to three gold and two silvers.
