Sienna Toohey, 16, surfaces as bright hope for Australian swimming
A 16-year-old schoolgirl is being hailed as the future of Australian swimming after earning world championship selection. Sienna Toohey left seasoned campaigners including Kaylee McKeown in awe with a stunning swim at Australia's selection trials in Adelaide on Tuesday night.
The Albury teenager, who only started swimming because she wanted to play water polo, triumphed in the women's 100m breaststroke. Toohey's victory, in a personal best time of 1:06.55, secured her berth at the world titles in Singapore from 27 July to 3 August.
'All of these people being my idols, now I get to be on the team with them,' Toohey said. 'These are people that I was watching two years ago, saying I want to be like them.'
The daughter of the relieving principal at Albury High School, Toohey initially wanted to be a water polo player.
'My parents told me that I couldn't do water polo if I didn't swim, so I started swimming,' she said. 'And then my water polo progressed and my swimming was too at the same time.
'I got to the point where I had to choose swimming or water polo. Obviously, I chose swimming – it was the right choice.'
Five-time Olympic gold medallist McKeown was among those impressed with Toohey's feat at the South Australian Aquatic Centre.
'I was 16 when I made my first team and it really taught me a lot being with the older guys,' McKeown said after winning the 100m backstroke final on Tuesday night. 'I'm excited to see young swimmers coming through the ranks.
'The more experience that they can get leading into LA [the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics], we have a really good chance of doing Australia proud.'
McKeown, who has told of the mental toll during her decorated career, offered some advice to the precocious Toohey.
'Just to enjoy yourself,' McKeown said. 'The more you be serious, the more you're harsh on yourself, you keep just digging yourself in a bit of a hole and it's quite hard to get out of.'
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For Toohey, she now will revise plans which had centred on the goal of swimming at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
'The team I was first aiming to get on was definitely that one,' she said. 'Now that I've made this one, we'll have to push up the timeline a bit more.'
Also on Tuesday night, Alex Perkins threatened the national women's 50m butterfly record by clocking 25.36 seconds, 0.05 shy of Holly Barratt's benchmark set six years ago.
Injury-plagued Ed Sommerville, 20, made his first senior long-course national team by winning the men's 200m freestyle in 1:44.93 ahead of Sam Short (1:45.71).
Joshua Edwards-Smith prevailed in the men's 100m backstroke in 54.28 and and Matt Temple took out the men's 100m butterfly in 51.00.
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