Best Qld swimmers Duel in the Pool

Queensland’s next batch of Olympic swimmers can be glimpsed tonight and Friday in a Duel in the Pool.

Queensland’s next batch of Olympic swimmers can be glimpsed tonight and Friday in a Duel in the Pool event on the Gold Coast.

Highly acclaimed teenagers like world junior selections Niamh Bedggood (Rackley Swim Team), Hannah Casey (Marist College Ashgrove), Tiana Kritzinger (Nudgee College), Semra Olowoniyi (St Peters Western), Jamie Perkins (Cotton Tree), Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western), Taryn Roberts (Rocky City), Jamie Bayliss (Nudgee College), Jesse Coleman (Bond University), Alex Fahey (Rackley Swim), Thomas Hauck (All Saints), Flynn Southam (Bond University) and Robert Thorpe (St Peters Western) were part of a 67 person squad competing.

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The meet’s aim is to give Queensland’s finest hard, high standard race experience given the swimmers are unable to compete either interstate or overseas until the COVID-19 crisis settles.

Coach David Proud's world junior team selections (L-R) Thomas Raymond, Mikayla Messer, James Bayliss and Tiana Kritzinger. Picture by Richard Gosling

Aside from the likes of Elizabeth Dekkers (Newmarket Racers), Sam Short (Rackley), Joshua Staples and Kai Taylor (both St Peters Western) - all world junior selections - the best of the best rookies were competing at the Duel in the Pool.

James Bayliss and Tiana Kritzinger. Picture by Richard Gosling

They include Nudgee’s Tiana Kritzinger, one of nine from David Proud’s Nudgee swimming squad to match the Duel in the Pool. This is the highest representation from a club.

Joining Kritzinger and Bayliss at the meet from Nudgee were Luke Barbour, Thomas Connellan, Matthew Magnussen, Thomas Raymond, Finlay Schuster, Hana Costello and Poppy Stephen.

Distance swimmer Kritzinger said while it was disappointing the world juniors did not proceed due to COVID-19 restrictions, “it was a honour to be given the Australian colours and to know that my hard work in the pool and gym, as well as David’s support and commitment, had paid off’’.

She said knowing the 2019 Australian junior representatives like Tom Neill, Meg Harris and Mollie O’Callaghan had progressed to win Olympic Games medals in Tokyo had given her encouragement.

Meg Harris provided inspiration to Nudgee’s Tiana Kritzinger (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Seeing the young guns Mollie, Tom and Meg compete at the Games and come home with gold was definitely an inspiration since I’ve been on camps with them previously and know the level of training they put in.

“It’s made me want to work even harder to race on the world stage.’’

Amelia Weber is one of the many young guns competing.

The full squads

Girls: Mikayla Bird, Mila Jansen, Isabella Martin, Sophie Martin, Allison Tseng, Nicola Vitanza, Jamie Perkins, Chloe Rowe-Hagans, Raylee Amos, Georgia Coward, Mia Feltham

Haylee Reid, Georgia Roper, Hannah Casey, Francesca Chitukudza, Piper Brien, Josephine Crimmins, Sienna Timms, Hana Costello, Tiana Kritzinger, Poppy Stephen, Imogen Wassing, Hannah Allen, Elloise Doolan, Indiana King, Taryn Roberts, Sally Vagg, Tylah Crabtree, Collette Lyons, Jaclyn Barclay, Semra Olowoniyi, Ella Ramsey, Claveria Johnson-Tiumalu, Amelia Weber, Lia Belle Wiese, Jacqueline Davison-McGovern.

Boys: Benjamin Goedemans, Thomas Hauck, Xavier Cuolahan, Daniel Woodrow, Jesse Coleman, Flynn Southam, Lewis Treggiden, Jude Youens, Joshua Anderson, William Jordan,

Edward Sommerville, Marcus West, Ryan Woodward, Jy Parkinson, Anders McAlpine, Connor Munchow, Jack Dugandzic, Bailey Lello, Thomas Pattison, Kane Martin, Jackson Andrews, Thomas Henderson, Luke Barbour, James Bayliss, Thomas Connellan, Matthew Magnussen, Thomas Raymond, Finlay Schuster, Gideon Burnes, Alex Fahey, Jamison Morgan, Thomas Nankervis, Robert Thorpe, Eliott Weber, Zachary Tabuai and Cameron Bradburn.