Latest news with #SiennaToohey
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aussie teen eclipses Leisel Jones feat as poolside interview leaves fans stunned
Teen sensation Sienna Toohey has broken down pool side after collecting her ticket to the World Swimming Championships in Singapore having become the youngest Australian to break the 1:07 mark in the 100m breaststroke. Toohey has long been touted as a future swimming star for the Australian Dolphins having recently broken Liesel Jones' longstanding age group record in the 100m breaststroke. And the 16-year-old has delivered in front of her swimming rivals at the Australian world championships trials this week having eclipsed Ella Ramsay to win the 100m breaststroke on Tuesday night. Toohey edged out in front of Olympic silver medallist Ramsay to finish with 1:06.55 and book her ticket to Singapore later this year. She finished in front if Ramsay, 1:06.86, and Sienna Harben, 1:07.02, in a close swim. And immediately after the race, Toohey joined Aussie swimming icon Cate Campbell poolside for a chat. And the 16-year-old was overcome with emotions have realised she had achieved a lifelong dream. "I am just so excited because I have worked so hard," Toohey said as she broke down in tears. "I was so nervous, I am just so happy I have done them proud. "I have been training in Canberra for the last six weeks, because my club has taken a break, so it has been very hard. So coming out here I just knew I wanted to get it because I have made a lot of sacrifices and so has my family. So it's a lot. I know my brothers would miss me so much. They've just given up so much for me to be able to do this." Ramsay was a little of her PB and was frustrated with her race knowing she hadn't undertaken too much sprint training heading into the trials. Regardless, Australia has a new face on the swimming scene with Toohey slowly working her way up the ranks. In April, Toohey broke Jones' 23-old record of 1:07.31 to become the fastest 16-year-old. However, her latest achievement has seen her eclipse all other Australians and record the 9th fastest time ever for a junior. Not even the legendary Jones achieved this feat in the juniors. Although she does have some way to go to break Jones' PB of 1:05.09 in the 100m breaststroke, which she achieved in 2005. "All of these people being my idols, now I get to be on the team with them," Toohey said after her swim. "These are people that I was watching two years ago, saying I want to be like them." The moment 16-year-old Sienna Toohey broke through to cement her senior Dolphins selection with a massive PB 🤯🔥🐬With mum watching on, the girl from Albury won the women's 100m breaststroke (1:06.55) at the Australian Swimming sensational Sienna 👏🥹 🔗… — Australian Dolphins Swim Team (@DolphinsAUS) June 10, 2025 16 years old and going to her first World Champs as a senior Dolphin!Sienna Toohey won the 100m breaststroke at the Aussie Swimming Trials last night in 1:06.55, a PB of more than half a second, which has secured the ticket to Singapore.#TeamAUS | @DolphinsAUS | @SwimmingAUS — AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) June 11, 2025 Sienna Toohey climbs to ninth place all time — nuotostat (@nuotostat) June 10, 2025 Guys, we've got a good'un here. 16yo Sienna Toohey is going to be a star! — John Dean (@JohnDean_) June 10, 2025 SIENNA TOOHEY OMG A 16YO JUST QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CHAMPS IN BREASTSTROKE WE FINALLY HAVE A GOOD BREASTROKER — TeamThiem (@MedvedevMeddler) June 10, 2025 Having been around Toohey during her time at the Australian trials, five-time Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown has offered some advice for the teenager. Having been through a similar career trajectory as the girl from Albury, McKeown claimed Toohey needs to try and enjoy as much of her development as possible as she joins the Australian Dolphins. "Just to enjoy yourself," McKeown said when offering advice to Toohey. "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." Only this week, McKeown offered an insight into her own struggles after the Paris Olympics. The Aussie sensation won four individual gold medals in Paris, but admitted the sudden change after an Olympics took a toll on her mental health as she took a little time away from the sport.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
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.' Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion 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.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Teenager Sienna Toohey shines at the Australian Swimming Trials with 100m breaststroke final win
Australian swimming has a new young star: Sienna Toohey. The 16-year-old booked her ticket to the World Championships in Singapore next month by beating Australia's best women in the 100m breaststroke final at the Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide. Her time of 1:06.55 smashed her personal best. Toohey broke down immediately after the race in an interview. "I was just so nervous, but I'm just so happy that I've done it now," she said. "It's a lot. "I've been doing very hard training — more than I've ever done before so I'm very happy that it's paid off." Toohey said she had the toughest week of training in her life earlier in the year with the national squad. "It (winning) was definitely a relief if anything because spending time away from family for that long, it's the hardest it's ever been for me," she said. "Because I love my dad and my brother so much, it was very hard not having them while I was doing that tough training." The upside was training alongside her idols. "These were people I was watching two years ago saying I want to be just like them, so it was very surreal being in a hotel room with them, eating lunch and dinner," she said. In April, Toohey broke breaststroke legend Hayley Lewis's record for 16-year-old girls. "After nationals this year, she sent me a video the night after I broke her 100 record, just congratulating me," she said. "It meant a lot. Just getting something personalised from her. And her just reaching out and telling me to keep going and that things can happen when you're a young age. It was definitely inspiring." Toohey said she only started swimming because she wanted to play water polo. "But my parents told me I couldn't do water polo if I didn't swim," she said. "It got to the point where I had to choose swimming or water polo, obviously I chose swimming, it was the right choice." In second place was Ella Ramsay who will add the 100m to her Singapore dance card after already qualifying for the 200m individual medley on the first night of the trials. She was asked what advice she has for Toohey. "To keep following your dreams I'd say," Ramsay said. "Just to see the pure emotion and relief Sienna had after her race, I definitely can relate to that because I had that this time last year when I made the Olympic team." Meanwhile, multiple Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown is winning, but struggling. After she was disqualified, then reinstated, on day one of the trials, she followed up with a win in the 100m backstroke, but said she was far from happy. "Yesterday was yesterday, today is today, can't really dwell on the past, that's the sport," she said. "This week's just not my week, but I've gotta do my job and make my team." She said she wasn't satisfied with her winning time of 57.71 — 0.38seconds outside her personal best which was the previous world record. Even so, it's the third fastest time of the year, behind her own win in the national championships earlier in April, and world record holder, Regan Smith in May. "I mean it's pretty simple you want to swim fast," she said. "You just want to go out hard and come back hard and hope for a good time on the wall and it just wasn't there tonight." On Monday, Alexandria Perkins won the women's 100m butterfly final and on Tuesday she beat her own personal best in the heats of the women's 50m butterfly in the morning, setting an all comers record before beating it again, winning the night's final. "I feel like I've held myself to a really high standard and I know the way I train so I can take confidence from that," she said. "I feel like it's maybe taken a few years to translate the way I'm training to the way I'm racing. So, I'm finally feeling I'm achieving that. "It's very exciting, it's also scary because you don't know when it's going to stop. "You can't put a limit on it, you never really know." In Singapore, she will come up against US 100m butterfly world record holder, Gretchen Walsh, after coming third against her in the 50m and 100m butterfly finals at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest last year. "You don't want to be next to her because you can get stuck in her wash a bit because she's just so damned fast," she said. "But I think it's incredible what she's doing for the sport, but hopefully she'll drag all the flyers along with her." Paralympic star Alexa Leary blitzed her field, coming within .01 seconds of her world record in the S950m freestyle final, but said she was glad she didn't break it. "The big show and the big game is Singapore. For this one I was just really focused on what my coach was focused on with all my skills and drills," she said. "I'm strong in the mental game so I've got this in Singapore, I've got it." In other results, Edward Sommerville smashed his personal best by over two-and-a-half seconds winning the men's 200m freestyle final in a time of 1:44.93 — comfortably under the World Championships qualifying time. Sam Short came second to back up his win in the 400m on night one. Olympic veteran Matthew Temple won the men's 100m butterfly final to qualify for Singapore alongside Jesse Coleman in second place.
The Age
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Age
'We'll have to make some plans': Sienna Toohey's mum in crowd
The mum of Sienna Toohey, the young gun who qualified for a senior Dolphins team at just 16, speaks to Nine's Ellie Cole at the Australian world championship trials.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
'We'll have to make some plans': Sienna Toohey's mum in crowd
The mum of Sienna Toohey, the young gun who qualified for a senior Dolphins team at just 16, speaks to Nine's Ellie Cole at the Australian world championship trials.
