Australia’s 20 best sports young sports stars under 20-years-old
From the NBL to the Boomers to the NBA - Aussies have enjoyed the rise of Josh Giddey. Taking the USA by storm he has quickly become one of Australia’s brightest stars of the future.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They’re the Aussie young guns taking the world of sport by storm and living by the motto “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough”.
The past two years of Covid restrictions and cancelled events have meant these young guns haven’t been able to make their mark as they would have in the past but their overwhelming talent has still been able to shine through.
From Olympic champions to those dominating the biggest sporting leagues in the world, rising stars and kids with dreams of matching their idols, these are Australia’s top 20 under 20.
Mollie O’Callaghan
Age: 17
Sport: Swimming
Won two gold medals at the Tokyo Games as a relay heat swimmer but unlucky not to swim the final of the 4x200m relay where she set a world junior record with her lead-off swim in the heats in a time that would have finished fifth in the Olympic final. Already back in training and knocked off Olympic champ Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle at the Queensland state championships last week.
Josh Giddey
Age: 19
Sport: Basketball
Giddey is going from strength to strength in his debut season with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA, narrowly missing becoming the youngest player in history to register a triple-double earlier this week. The man with the wild mane is becoming a cult hero in the States and while he missed the Boomers’ Tokyo campaign, will enhance the team’s chances to again medal at major championships.
Hannah Darlington
Age: 19
Sport: Cricket
Tough to choose a single cricketer here with so many rising stars, including the three teens – Annabel Sutherland (19, now 20), Darcie Brown (18) and Stella Campbell (19) – who made their Test debuts against India in September. But Darlington, who played ODI and Twenty20 matches in that series, stands out as leader as well as outstanding player, having taken the reins of WBBL side Sydney Thunder this season and led admirably in the absence of Australian vice-captain Rachael Haynes.
Sam Walker
Age: 19
Sport: Rugby league
The son of former NRL and Super League player Ben, Walker has been around rugby league his whole life, so his outstanding rookie season should have come as no surprise. But the idea he can improve on his maturity and poise to lead the Roosters into a new era is an exciting thought for fans, while he also shapes as an Origin player of the future.
Mary Fowler
Age: 18
Sport: Soccer
After making her Matildas debut against Brazil aged just 15, Fowler has continued her meteoric rise, making the 2019 World Cup squad before being a key part of the team that just missed a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. With a home World Cup on the horizon and the next Olympics just over two years away, the talented forward is set to become one of Australia’s most recognised sportswomen.
Broc Feeney
Age: 19
Sport: Motor racing
He’s already the Super2 Series champion but the best is yet to come for Gold Coaster Feeney, who will slip into the Supercars championship hot seat next season, replacing the retiring Jamie Whincup at Triple Eight Racing. At an age when most teens are just shedding their P plates, Feeney is on track to compete with the best drivers in the nation next year.
Maddison Levi
Age: 19
Sport: Rugby 7s
Made an eye-catching debut in her first AFLW season with the Gold Coast Suns as she juggled that sport with her rugby commitments before being named in Australia’s Sevens squad for the Tokyo Olympics. Now concentrating on rugby full-time, Levi has starred in Australia’s back-to-back tournament wins to open the new World Rugby Sevens Series season.
Jason Horne-Francis
Age: 18
Sport: AFL
Compared to Patrick Dangerfield and rated the best no. 1 draft pick in years, there’s plenty of hype around Horne-Francis but the South Adelaide product has plenty believing there’s substance behind the style. Having played against men in the SANFL since the age of 16, the midfielder is already a proven talent on the big stage and is set to thrive with the Kangaroos.
Ellie Beer
Age: 18
Sport: Athletics
The youngest Australian ever selected to an open world championship team when she was named as part of the 4x400m relay squad at 16 years and 268 days old, Beer has continued her rise, competing at her first Olympics in Tokyo, also as part of the relay. An athlete with enormous potential, the former beach sprint champion will be searching for her first individual spot this year at the Commonwealth Games.
Keegan Palmer
Age: 18
Sport: Skateboarding
The introduction of skateboarding, freestyle BMX and sport climbing to the Olympics was a massive crowd pleaser, especially with Australia collecting an unexpected skateboard gold through Palmer, who learned his craft on the Gold Coast. Now splitting his time between Australia and the US, where he was born, the young pro is one of the most exciting athletes in the world in a discipline with a massive cult following.
Molly Picklum
Age: 19
Sport: Surfing
Picklum may have just missed qualifying for the World Surf League’s championship tour (CT) place on a countback by but she remains a star on the rise. Beaten out of a CT spot by Hawaii’s Luana Silva after the 17-year-old’s title win in Portugal, Picklum will head back to the challenger series in 2022 to push for a spot on the main tour.
Mohamed Toure
Age: 17
Sport: Football
Became the youngest A-League goal scorer at just 15 a week after making his debut for Adelaide United and is expected to become a hot commodity next March when he turns 18 and becomes eligible to be picked up by an overseas outfit. The Guinea-born forward is impressing plenty with his speed and skill and has been rated one of the best young talents in world football.
Ellie McKenzie
Age: 19
Sport: AFLW
The No. 1 draft pick in 2020, McKenzie was outstanding for Richmond in her first season in the AFLW, despite the Tigers’ struggles and won the league’s best first-year player in a canter. The explosive left-footer has already made a mark in the competition but is expected to take her game to another level as she continues her career.
Jake Fraser-McGurk
Age: 19
Sport: Cricket
An Australia U19 star, Fraser-McGurk has gone from strength to strength in the open ranks, scoring a half-century in his first class debut and continuing to impress for both Victoria and in the Big Bash, the Melbourne Renegades. While it’s his consistent batting that will help him make the transition to the next level, he is also an outstanding fieldsman, as his audacious one-handed outfield grab in the Big Bash showed.
Destiny Brill
Age: 18
Sport: Rugby league/rugby union
The pint-sized Brill has made a massive impact in both rugby codes at the elite level, sizzling for both the Reds and Maroons women on debut to give a tantalising glimpse of her potential. Now signed with new NRLW outfit the Gold Coast Titans, Brill – also a Wallaroos squad member – will juggle commitments in the two codes with a women’s Rugby World Cup on the horizon.
Tom Lynagh
Age: 18
Sport: Rugby union
The teenage son of Wallabies legend Michael Lynagh may have been born in Italy and grown up in England but his choice was to ply his trade in the footsteps of his famous father at Ballymore. The fly half has signed with the Reds for two years, leaving England and famed club Harlequins – from where older brother Louis has made his name and received a call-up to the England senior squad – to chase his rugby dreams in Australia.
Georgie Horjus
Age: 19
Sport: Netball
Adelaide Thunderbirds livewire Horjus made the most of her opportunity when included in an expanded squad introduced due to deal with the Covid-enforced hub in 2020, making an immediate impact at goal attack. Her fearless style and boundless energy have ensured she remains a Thunderbirds regular, while the Kangaroo Island product is already a cult figure in the game.
Thomas Neill
Age: 19
Sport: Swimming
Returned from Tokyo a bronzed Aussie after helping the 4x200m relay team to third place in the final with an outstanding anchor leg in which he clawed back half a second on the Russian team and almost swam his team into second place. Missed a spot in the individual final by just three hundredths of a second and will be hunting down experience at the world championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022 ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Jasmine Greenwood
Age: 17
Sport: Swimming
The youngest member of Australia’s Paralympic team in Tokyo, at 16, Greenwood won silver in the S10 100m butterfly in Tokyo in what shapes as the first of many Paralympic medals. After taking to the sport to help rehabilitate an acquired brain injury after two strokes triggered by acute appendicitis affected movement in her left side, she made her first Australian team at just 12, followed with a home Commonwealth Games spot the following year before picking up an individual medal at the 2019 world championships to kickstart her Tokyo Paralympic campaign.
Joe Collins
Age: 18
Sport: Surf lifesaving
Kiwi-born Collins showed his ticker early in making the move across the ditch to the Gold Coast to follow his dreams of becoming a champion ironman and the move is paying off, with the Northcliffe athlete finishing third in his debut series last year. Consistency was the key for the swim specialist – who also claimed the coveted U19 Aussies ironman title – and he will be hoping to avoid second-year syndrome with a similar showing when the 2022 series gets underway at North Bondi in January.
Originally published as Australia’s 20 best sports young sports stars under 20-years-old
Star to face MRO scrutiny as Saints reignite finals push
The Saints have jumped back inside the top eight on the AFLW ladder with a win over GWS, but a gun ball-winner is set to go under the MRO’s microscope.
Australia’s ‘hottest’ WAG wows at beach
An AFL star has been photographed enjoying the off-season with his influencer girlfriend.