2022 Australian Swimming Championships - Recap!

23 May 2022

The 2022 Australian Swimming Championships have wrapped up and once again, WA athletes have stepped up and delivered spectacular performances in Adelaide. 

South Australia played host to the best swimmers in the nation from May 18-22, with 51 Western Australian-based swimmers from 13 clubs flying over to battle it out. 

Swimmers finishing in the top two under the qualifying time automatically gained selection for the World Championships to be held in Budapest in June along with the Birmingham Commonwealth Games taking place in July-August. Top-three place-getters finishing under qualifying time also earn a spot on the Commonwealth Games Team. 

Well done to all 51 swimmers, coaches, 13 clubs and 10 officials from Western Australia who have all worked incredibly hard in and out of the pool to prepare themselves for these Championships. We have new WA swimmers and coaches who have just made their birth onto their first Australian Teams and these Championships have shown WA is well poised in the future of swimming with supreme talent rising through the national ranks!   

Let’s dive into the highlights from the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships! 

Day One Highlights - Wednesday

Alec Mander Eoin Carroll Kieren Pollard

The very first final of the Championships in the Men’s 400 freestyle included two WA superstars. Kieren Pollard, 23, coached by Ian Mills out of North Coast Swimming Club and 19-year-old Alec Mander, coached by Eoin Carroll from Perth City Swimming Club. 

Both swimmers absolutely obliterated their personal best times by over three seconds in the prelims to make their way into the finals, with Pollard qualifying 7th and Mander, 8th. Pollard once again smashed his personal best time in the final, clocking an amazing 3:50.72 to claim sixth place.  

Mander finished like a freight train, clocking the second-fastest final lap in 27.29 seconds, only behind the 2016 Olympic Champion for this event in Mack Horton! He finished narrowly outside his personal best time set during the prelims, touching 8th in a time of 3:52.41. 

These swims would set up the foundations of what would become a personal-best-time-obliterating Championships for these two young Perth stars and their coaches. 

Taking one of the most spectacular victories of the night was former Perth-swimmer, Joshua Edwards-Smith in the Men’s 200m backstroke final. The 19-year-old took the race out incredibly fast and held on strong to touch in an awesome time of 1:56.71, narrowly ahead of Australia’s backstroke king, Mitch Larkin by 0.08 seconds. 

The phenomenal swim means the former UWA West Coast swimmer has booked his seat for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games! Congratulations to you Josh and we can’t wait to watch you race the best in the world!  

Day Two Highlights - Thursday  

Day two of finals saw former UWA West Coast/WAIS swimmer, Brianna Throssell, storm to a resounding victory in the Women’s 100m butterfly final, clocking a brilliant 57.31 seconds to win by over one second and book her ticket to Budapest and Birmingham. Congratulations Brianna!

Another fantastic performance from the same event came from Westside Christ Church Aquatic’s Kate Harrison. The 17-year-old clocked a great time of 1:00.21 to take home a silver medal for the 17-19-year age category! Congratulations on your amazing achievement Kate and well done to your coach and father, Jon Harrison

Kate Harrison Jon Harrison Deb Jones Talara-Jade Dixon

Tyrone Crees had a sensational race in the B-final of the Men’s 50m butterfly. The Southside Penrhos Wesley jet clocked a new personal best time of 24.49 seconds, finishing 11th overall across Australia! Well done Tyrone and to your coach, Nick Watkins!

Up next was WA’s breastroke queen, Talara-Jade Dixon. The 25-year-old St Hilda’s swimmer set a new personal best time in the final of the Women’s 50m breastroke, placing 6th overall in a wonderful time of 31.57. Great work Talara and to your hard-working coach, Deb Jones!

Westside Christ Church’s Seria Hasebe pulled out a fantastic performance in the B-final of the Women’s 50m breastroke. Bettering her time from the heats, Hasebe clocked 32.48 seconds to win the B-final, claiming a bronze medal for the 17-19-year age category and making it rain two medals within 30 minutes for Westside Christ Church Aquatic! Well done Seria and to Westside coaches Jon Harrison and Will Greenwood!  

In the same race, UWA West Coast star, Caitlyn Ribbons also had a great swim, finishing third in the B-final (11th overall) in a huge personal best time of 32.60 seconds. A clear sign Caitlyn is being coached brilliantly by Rob Palfery

Another former Perth swimmer storming to gold on night two of finals was Zac Incerti. The former WAIS athlete claimed victory in the 200m freestyle final, setting the benchmark at 1:45.80 to book his place on the World Championship and Commonwealth Games teams. 

Coming in second place in the B-final and 10th overall for the Mens 200m freestyle was Perth City’s Alec Mander. The 19-year-old freestyle sensation absolutely crushing his personal best time yet again, taking a staggering two-seconds off his personal best time in one day to break the prestigious 1:50 barrier in 1:49.10.

To make this feat even more impressive, the 19-year-old had the fastest final lap of any competitor in Australia with 26.76 seconds, faster than Zac Incerti, Elijah Winnington and Olympic gold medallist, Mack Horton! Keep up the great work Alec along with your coach, Eoin Carroll!  

One of the most impressive races for WA competitors of the night went to Alyssa Burgess (Arena Swim Club) and Holly Barratt (Rockingham Swim Club) in the Women’s 50m backstroke final.

Burgess rose rapidly through the Australian rankings to clock a sizzling 28.38 seconds, placing 4th only 0.07 seconds off bronze! Her hard work under coach Simon Redmond is paying dividends and we can’t wait to see her progress in this event over the next few years! 

Alyssa Burgess

Finishing one place behind Burgess in 5th place was WA superstar and sprint veteran, Holly Barratt. The 34-year-old continues to defy her age, touching in an amazing 28.42 seconds in the final. Barratt recently had one of the best international short-course seasons of her decorated career throughout 2021.  

If you managed to snag a seat in the South Australian Aquatic Centre on night two, you certainly received a major treat when Olympic gold medallist, Zac Stubblety-Cook, stepped up to the blocks for the Men’s 200m breastroke final.

The Olympic champion from this event in Tokyo last year went out hard and held on superbly to smash the previous world record, going under the 2:06 mark for the first time in history to touch in 2:05.95, bringing the whole stadium to their feet. It has certainly laid down the gauntlet for his competition heading into the World Championships and Commonwealth Games! 

Westside Christ Church Aquatic breastroke star, Alexandr Bell, also had a great swim in the B-final for the same event, finishing 14th overall when he touched in 2:21.87. 

To add another medal to WA’s tally for the day was the Southside Penrhos Wesley relay team in the 4x100 freestyle. Comprised of Tyrone Crees, Jett Walker, Christopher Purcell and Harrison Hynes, the crew claimed bronze in a great time of 3:30.13 seconds with coach Nick Watkins cheering from the pool deck. Great effort guys! 

Day Three Highlights - Friday  

Former WAIS & UWA West Coast star, Brianna Throssell, placed seventh in the Women’s 200m freestyle final in a time of 1:56.34, before Arena Swim Club’s Alyssa Burgess slashed another half-second off her personal best time to finish 4th in the Women’s 100m backstroke final in a great time of 1:01.60, she also claimed a silver medal in the 17-19-year age category! Nice work Alyssa and to your coach, Simon Redmond

Peel Aquatic's Finlay Larmour swam superbly in the B-final of the Men’s 100m breastroke, with the 18-year-old finishing in 15th place nation-wide, touching just outside his personal best time in 1:03.83. 

Up next in the Men’s 800m freestyle final was Perth City’s freestyle star, Alec Mander. The 19-year-old continued to demonstrate his incredible form of slashing huge chunks of time off his personal bests, touching 4th and nearly going under the incredibly difficult eight-minute barrier in a time 8:00.54. It was also under the WAIS qualifying time!  

Not only was this a new personal best time of nearly nine-seconds, Mander was only 1.7-seconds off bronze. This would not be the last time he makes huge gains on his events at these Championships and it is a testament to the remarkable progress and guidance his coach Eoin Carroll is providing to the talented swimmer. 

Day Four Highlights - Saturday 

Holly Barratt Will Scott

Continuing her amazing form in the backstroke events on day four of finals was 19-year-old Arena Swim Club talent, Alyssa Burgess. She finished 7th in the Women’s 200m backstroke final, taking 1.4-seconds off her prelims time to touch in 2:15.12. 

Western Australia was well represented in the final of the Women’s 50m butterfly final. Sprinting queen and WAIS swimmer, Holly Barratt, showed true power and experience to storm ahead in the final stage of the race, putting her head down for the final 10m to claim gold in 26.02 seconds. 

It means the 34-year-old will be the oldest swimmer on the Australian team headed for Birmingham and Budapest! Congratulations Holly and to WAIS coach, Will Scott! We saw Barratt claim silver in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast for the Women’s 50m butterfly and we’re incredibly excited to see how she goes this time around in Birmingham! 

In the same final, 17-year-old Westside Christ Church butterfly star, Kate Harrison, smashed the 27-second barrier for the first time in her career, clocking a solid time of 26.93 seconds to finish 5th overall in Australia. Keep up the great work Kate and Jon Harrison

The very next race of the Men’s 400 Individual Medley gave us one of the most thrilling finishes of the Championships. 23-year-old North Coast jet, Kieren Pollard, was sitting in third place with 100m to go, before producing a stunning 100m freestyle split time of 58.03 seconds, sprinting to the finish and almost chasing down Se-Bom Lee in second place.

With both swimmers putting their heads down with five metres to go, it was Lee who narrowly pipped Pollard by only one centimetre and 0.01-seconds to claim silver, while Pollard snagged a fantastic bronze medal, his first ever Australian Team birth and a ticket to the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games! 

Congratulations on this amazing achievement Kieren and hats off to your amazing coach Ian Mills, who also guided Pollard’s younger North Coast teammate Kyle Lee onto the Budapest World Championship Team in the 5km Open Water while also securing his own coaching position on the same team! UWA west Coast talent, Adriano Todoro also claimed 12th overall in the B-final of the same event, touching the wall in a great time of 4:32.96. 

Zac Incerti also snagged another medal in the blue-ribboned Men’s 100m freestyle final, finishing with silver in a stunning time of 48.65 seconds. Australia’s future generation in this event is also looking promising, with young 16-year-old sensation, Flynn Southam from NSW claiming bronze in 48.76 seconds. 

Day Five Highlights - Sunday 

The concluding finals session kicked off with the splash and dash Women’s 50m freestyle final and it was experienced Rockingham sprinter, Holly Barratt, who belted out a scorching 25.18 seconds in the final to finish in 5th place. 

The B-final of the same event was overflowing with WA talent, featuring 18-year-old UWA West Coast’s Caitlyn Ribbons, 17-year-old Kate Harrison from Westside Christ Church and 19-year-old Alyssa Burgess from Arena.

All three women smashed the 26-second barrier, with Ribbons touching 10th overall in 25.87, Harrison 12th in 25.92 and Burgess 15th in 25.97 seconds respectively. It is incredibly exciting to see all three young stars belting out these times and the future of sprinting in WA is looking very promising. 

Kieren Pollard Kyle Lee

After storming to victory in the Men’s 200m backstroke, former WAIS and UWA West Coast swimmer, Joshua Edwards-Smith added another event to his World Championship and Commonwealth Games roster, snagging silver in the Men’s 100m backstroke in 54.61 seconds. 

His former WAIS and UWA West Coast teammate, Brianna Throssell, claimed bronze in the Women’s 200m Butterfly final in a time of 2:08.71 seconds. Adding the event to her 2022 Commonwealth Games schedule. 

After making his first senior debut on an Australian Team when he claimed silver in the Men’s 100m breastroke final, former UWA West Coast star, Joshua Yong, finished 5th in the 50m breastroke final, clocking 27.80 seconds, with Peel Aquatic's Finlay Larmour winning his B-final and finishing 9th overall in Australia, touching in a new personal best time of 28.25 seconds! Well done Finlay and to your new coach, Zoe Baker

Dual Olympic gold medallist and freestyle superstar, Ariarne Titmus, was up next to dazzle the Adelaide crowd on the final night of the Championships. The 21-year-old nearly claimed the 200m freestyle world record earlier in the week despite admitting she was not properly tapered, so there was an electric atmosphere when she stepped up for her pet event in the final of the Women’s 400m freestyle.

Titmus took the race out incredibly hard, staying under the world record mark set by US freestyle legend and rival, Katie Ledecky at every turn. On the final lap of the race, she was still under the world mark as her charismatic coach, Dean Boxall, cheered and ran alongside her on pool deck, waving his arms frantically to let her know she was still under world record pace. 

Titmus held on strong to send the crowd and her coach wild, setting a new world record by 0.07-seconds with an amazing time of 3:56.40. It now means the freestyle star holds the long and short course world records in the event! Hopefully we see another nail-biter of a race between Titmus and Ledecky in the 400m freestyle at the Budapest World Championships!  

Alyssa Burgess from Arena Swim Club finished off her brilliant Australian Championships campaign with a strong personal best time of 2:19.65 in the Women’s 200 Individual Medley B-final, claiming 11th overall in Australia. Great work across your busy schedule this week Alyssa and to your coach, Simon Redmond

The amount of time that Perth City’s Alec Mander has slashed off his personal best times across these Championships is proof that he is not only working incredibly hard in training, but that his coach Eoin Carroll is working wonders with the 19-year-old out of Beatty Park. 

In the final solo event of the Championships, Mander took an incredible 22-seconds off his 1500m freestyle PB, claiming a stunning silver medal when he clocked 15:15.02. To sweeten the deal for WA, North Coast star, Kieren Pollard, coached by Ian Mills, was by his side throughout the entire race and touched in 3rd place behind Mander, with a time of 15:16.39. It capped off a very successful campaign for these two swimmers, their clubs and both coaches. 

Westside Christ Church

We had three WA-based swimmers in Holly BarrattKieren Pollard and Alex Saffy (Multi Class) make Australian Commonwealth Games Teams along with former UWA West Coast and WAIS swimmers Brianna ThrossellJoshua YongZac Incerti and Josua Edwards-Smith. We even had the honour of watching Zac Stubblety-Cook and Ariarne Titmus smash two world records! 

To put the icing on the cake, we have two WA-based coaches that have been named on the 2022 World Championship Team! This includes Deb Jones from St Hilda’s and Swimming WA’s State Technical Director, Mel Tantrum who will also travel to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games! We’re incredibly proud of both of you! 

Joining our talented swimmers and coaches in Adelaide this week were 10 Western Australian officials who did a fantastic job on pool deck to help these Championships run as smoothly as possible. Congratulations and thankyou to Kaye Bolger, Kim Blake, Kylie Baker, Fiona Christie, Deb Doody, Dot Harris, Steve Hill, Katherine Hurford, Jacqui McNamara and Greg Wilson

Stay tuned for our coverage of the 2022 World Championships to be held in June and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in July and August! We also want to send a huge congratulations to all competitors and clubs below along with all coaches involved across these Australian Championships! 

Arena Swim Club - Jamie Anderson, Alyssa Burgess, Tiana Forrestal, Tom Wyatt

Breakers Swim Club - Samantha Macfarlane, Elyse Weston

Busselton Swimming Club - Amy Kerr

Kwinana Swimming Club - Amelia Nielsen 

North Coast Swimming Club - Robert Bonsall, Rosie Wilson, Kieren Pollard (Commonwealth Games Team Debut)

Perth City Swimming Club - Alec Mander 

Peel Aquatic - Finlay Larmour, Oliver Brehaut (qualifier), Calia Vlastuin, Megan Larmour, Lewis Burras, Kayla Van Der Merwe

Rockingham - Holly Barratt (2022 Commonwealth Games Team Member)

Scarborough Beach Swimming Club - Daniel Boshart, Sean Wilkie, Alessio Macri

Southside Penros Wesley - Joshua Agnihotri, Tyrone Crees, Harrison Hynes, Christopher Purcell, Georgia Rothnie, Jett Walker 

St Hildas - Talara-Jade Dixon, Jackson Govers, Maeve McKenna, Talia Wilkinson, Jordan Davis, James Hansford, Mitchell McKell, Nicolas Monger Molowny

UWA West Coast - Caitlyn Ribbons, Kaylea Smith, Jayden Yong, Georgina Gray, Elizabeth Hughes, Adriano Todoro, Lucas Wilson

Westside Christ Church Aquatic - Seria Hasebe, Kate Harrison, Anna Monaghan, Aleksandr Bell, Dylan Burgess, Rielly Joyce, Sarah Overheu

Was this page helpful?yesno

Thanks for your feedback.

Go back to top