A small-town teenager, Sienna Toohey achieved a remarkable result at Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide this week.
Beating her own personal result as well as Leisel Jones’Sydney 2000Olympic silver medal time, Toohey earned a spot on the Dolphins team for the first time.
Australian Swimming Trials
The six-day competition that serves as the primary selection event for the Australian Dolphins swim team is taking place in Oaklands Park in South Australia from June 9th to June 14th.
This year, Toohey broke a 20-year-old record that belonged to Leisel Jones which was 1:07.31.
With her personal best time of 1:06.55, Toohey secured herself a spot in the World Championships in Singapore next month and will represent Australia on the international arena.
The promising young talent struggled holding back emotions and shared “I’m just so excited because I worked so hard.
“I was so nervous and so happy I have done it.”
Before the spotlight
Toohey comes from Albury in NSW where there is no indoor pool for swimmers to train in winter.
Initially wanting to play water polo, the young gun started swimming at a young age, and at some point was forced to choose between water polo and swimming. Toohey doesn’t regret her decision: “Obviously, I chose swimming. It was the right choice.”
In order to train for the Trials, Toohey had to move to the ACT for six weeks, which has been a challenge for her: “It’s been very hard living in Canberra for the last six weeks.”
The young athlete had her family cheering for her at the Aquatic centre.
World Championships in Singapore
The event will be held at the Singapore Sports Hub and Sentosa from July 11 to August 3, featuring six aquatic disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving.
Approximately 2,500 elite athletes are expected to compete.