Brisbane Nova hosts’ dramatic miss at World Aquatic Masters – a split second away from bronze

Brisbane Nova radio hosts Ash, “Luttsy”, and Susie O’Neill have suffered a heart-wrenching finish at the World Aquatic Masters, missing out on a medal by the tiniest of margins.

Brisbane Nova radio hosts Ash Bradnam, David ‘Luttsy’ Lutteral and Susie O’Neill have shared their profound disappointment after narrowly missing out on a podium place at the World Aquatic Masters in Fukuoka, Japan.

The co-hosts fell just one hundredth of a second short of winning a bronze medal in the Mixed relay event earlier this week.

The race, which took place on Wednesday, saw the radio trio team up with schoolteacher and Nova listener Kylie Fletcher in the 50m mixed freestyle competition. Despite their commendable efforts, they were edged out by the Brazilian team, finishing with a time of 1:53.40 to Brazil’s 1:53.39.

Official times from the World Aquatic Masters mixed 50m freestyle relay. Photo: seikosports.com/wmc2023

The close defeat led to a passionate outburst from Bradnam, who was clearly struggling to come to terms with the loss.

“1/100 of a second, like that’s bullsh*t, man. Bullsh*t,” he said in a candid post-race interview.

“That’s gonna haunt me forever, I’ll never get over.”

Lutteral, who shared the disappointment, called on listeners to pray for a false start from the top three teams, half in jest and half in hope.

“Wherever you’re watching right now, pray that there’s been a false start or whatever okay, then we get to third,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

The radio hosts continued to discuss the devastating loss on air on Thursday, with Lutteral stating that they will have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

“We just touched the wall some minute moment after Brazil touched the wall,” he said.

“Probably the length of a fingernail, stopped us from being on the medal dais, receiving a bronze medal at the World Championships,

“And we will live with that until the day we die.”

Nova's Ash (left), Luttsy (right) & Susie O’Neill (centre) will fly to Japan in August to compete in the 50m mixed relay at the 2023 Aquatic Masters and need a fourth to complete their team. Photo: Luke Marsden.

The radio trio however revealed on air on Thursday that O’Neill’s 27.88 seconds for the first 50m of her lead-out leg scored her a new Australian record.

Despite Bradnam and Lutteral not ordinarily being competitive swimmers, the idea for the three Nova breakfast hosts to compete in an international relay competition came about as an unconventional celebration for O’Neill’s 50th birthday, which coincided with the World Aquatic Masters.

During an on-air discussion in May, Bradnam and Lutteral decided to rekindle O’Neill’s competitive swimming past, proposing they join her in the pool themselves. The fourth spot on the relay team was secured by a lucky listener, Ms Fletcher.