2024 WESTERN AUSTRALIA SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, December 13th – Monday, December 16th
- HBF Stadium
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Results – Meet Mobile: SWA 24-25 Hancock Prospecting State Champs
The 2024 Western Australia Swimming Championships kicked off yesterday from HBF Stadium. The 4-day competition is taking place as the Short Course World Championships are nearing their conclusion and the Queensland Championships are just getting underway.
Abbey Kearney of Nunawading already collected three golds through the first two days here, topping the women’s 400m free, 200m back, and 200m IM podiums.
In the 400m free, Kearney touched in a time of 4:21.79 to beat the field by well over a second while in the 200m back she put up an outing of 2:17.48.
22-year-old Kearney then won the 200m IM in a result of 2:21.12, a huge improvement upon her previous personal best of 2:26.92 from the 2021 Victorian Age Championships.
39-year-old Sally Hunter of Central Aquatic was another multiple-event winner, taking the women’s 100m breast and 50m breast races.
Hunter stopped the clock at a time of 31.99 in the shorter distance and 1:11.24 in the longer to make her presence known.
Inez Miller was too quick to catch in the women’s 100m freestyle, logging an effort of 55.80 as the sole sub-56-second performer of the field.
18-year-old Miller of Fenix Swim Club has been as fast as 55.03 in her career, a time she posted at this year’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
The men’s 50m back saw Highlanders swimmer Tom Prowton get the edge over Olympian Zac Incerti. The former hit 26.34 to the latter’s 26.50 while Samuel Hicks of Westside Christ Church bagged the bronze in 26.91.
Incerti told Swimming Western Australia after the race, “It was actually my first race in backstroke in about three years, so it was good being there again. There are some really good guys coming through, as I just saw, so yeah, it’s been really good.”
“I’m just here to see my family, and I thought maybe having a little paddle in the meantime was a pretty good idea. It’s been really good being back.
“Whenever we get WA guys putting in hours in this sport, it definitely makes me really happy. It’s something I feel we need to continue to build because there is talent here, and I just hope that the rest of the swimming community and the country sees that.”
Additional winners through day 2 included William Petric posting 2:16.02 in the men’s 200m breast and Alyssa Burgess logging 25.78 for gold in the women’s 50m free.
