Braxtyn Truman shatters Grant Hackett record in eerie Brisbane 2032 Olympics omen
A Grant Hackett record that stood for more than three decades has been toppled in an “omen” of Olympic potential for the Brisbane Olympics. Meet the 38 record breakers of the GC Long Course Championships.
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A Grant Hackett record that stood for more than three decades was toppled over the weekend by a performance hailed as an omen of Olympic potential.
Seven years before Hackett swam the 400m freestyle final for Australia at the Sydney 2000 Games, the Miami Swim Club product set the race’s under-12 record at the Gold Coast Long Course Championship.
On Friday night, seven years before the Brisbane 2032 Games, Gold Coaster Braxtyn Truman swam it 0.31 seconds faster.
Of the 38 total record-breakers at the event none has set imaginations racing quite like the kid from Somerset College Swim Club.
“He broke a record set by Grant Hackett in 1993, in one of Grant’s premier events,” Swimming Gold Coast president Warren Dopson said.
“The record Braxtyn broke of Grant’s was set seven years out from Sydney, and we’re now seven years out from Brisbane.
“If there’s such a thing as omens this is a really good sign. He (Truman) is young, he is only 12, but he’s off to a great start - and the time frame is exactly the same.”
The King’s Christian College student said the prospect of following in Hackett’s footsteps to win Olympic gold was fuelling his relentless preparation.
“What motivates me is to keep doing what I’m doing: winning and breaking records,” he said.
“I do it for my parents, my family, my friends and my coach Cheryl Baty.
“I’m training my heart out to hopefully make the Olympics one day and follow in Grant Hackett’s footsteps to win those events.
“It would make me feel really special and excited. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I could be racing in the Olympics.
“With all my hard work and dedication, hopefully one day I’ll make it.”
Proud mum Nadine Truman said her son had spotted Hackett’s 1993 record on the meet’s program weeks ago and was determined to beat it.
“We’re extremely proud, he’s worked really hard,” she said.
“He knew about the record and he wanted to break it. We saw the record time when the meet came out a couple of weeks ago and he said I’m going to go for that. He knew it was Grant Hackett’s and it had been around for 32 years so he wanted to break it.”
Truman rises at 4.30am six days a week to swim laps at Somerset College with elder brother Maximus, a rising star in his own right.
The 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle are Braxtyn’s best events but the young gun also won age group state titles in the 100m and 200m butterfly in December.
“He trains every morning and every afternoon except Sundays. He does nippers on a Sunday,” Nadine added.
Father John Truman said he believed his son’s work ethic could transport him to the starting blocks at the Brisbane Olympics.
“He’s got the drive and the potential to take him the whole the way and potentially break Hackett’s record at the Olympics,” he said.
“We’re really proud of him, with the effort and the workload he keeps up with to be at this level is amazing. I couldn’t be any prouder.
“If he got to swim at Brisbane (in 2032) I think I’d be like the coach Dean Boxall. I’d be reacting just like him.”
The gravitational pull of Brisbane’s Olympic Games triggered a flood of other records at the Swimming Gold Coast Long Course Championships, according to the district’s president Warren Dopson.
For the first time more than 600 swimmers took part in over 2700 races.
“There were 38 records broken this year, which is quite high. Normally we get in the low to mid 20s,” he said.
“Participation numbers (at the event) are up, the quality is up, obviously, with the number of records broken.
“The Gold Coast has had a storeyed history of fantastic swimmers so to continually get these records broken year-in and year-out by these up-and-comers is a great sign for the future.
“The 2032 Olympics is coming up faster than everyone realises and it’s a great sign for the future of Australian swimming.”
2025 SWIMMING GOLD COAST LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS RECORD BREAKERS
Male Record Breakers
Danny Baxter (15yrs) – 800m Freestyle: 8:43.31 (Old: 8:54.22, 2023)
Julian Angus (15yrs) – 100m Butterfly: 56.90 (Old: 58.22, 2021)
Julian Angus (15yrs) – 200m Butterfly: 2:06.05 (Old: 2:06.02, 2020)
Cohen Tarrant (14yrs) – 50m Breaststroke: 31.09 (Old: 31.89, 2024)
Cohen Tarrant (14yrs) – 100m Breaststroke: 1:08.05 (Old: 1:10.23, 2012)
Braxtyn Truman (12yrs) – 400m Freestyle: 4:39.98 (Old: 4:40.29, 1993)
Jake Tobin (12yrs) – 50m Butterfly: 30.54 (Old: 30.89, 2023)
Jasper Ward (11yrs) – 50m Backstroke: 35.20 (Old: 35.20, 2022)
Jasper Ward (11yrs) – 50m Butterfly: 32.16 (Old: 32.91, 2023)
Aratai Marsden (10yrs) – 50m Backstroke: 37.4 (Old: 37.73, 2024)
Aratai Marsden (10yrs) – 50m Butterfly: 34.54 (Old: 34.60, 2024)
Female Record Breakers
Sienna Walo (17yrs+) – 50m Freestyle: 25.91 (Old: 25.91, 2023)
Sienna Walo (17yrs+) – 50m Breaststroke: 33.10 (Old: 33.07, 2024)
Hayley Mackinder (17yrs+) – 200m Breaststroke: 2:29.57 (Old: 2:32.75, 2023)
Julia Remington (17yrs+) – 200m Individual Medley: 2:18.95 (Old: 2:19.59, 2014)
Olympia Pope (16yrs) – 50m Breaststroke: 32.38 (Old: 34.86, 2024)
Maya Zunker (15yrs) – 50m Breaststroke: 32.96 (Old: 33.36, 2023)
Jessica Melo (15yrs) – 50m Backstroke: 31.10 (Old: 32.00, 2022)
Roxanne Albertyn (13yrs) – 50m Freestyle: 27.00 (Old: 27.01, 2023)
Roxanne Albertyn (13yrs) – 100m Freestyle: 59.18 (Old: 59.65, 2009)
Roxanne Albertyn (13yrs) – 50m Backstroke: 31.39 (Old: 32.03, 2023)
Roxanne Albertyn (13yrs) – 200m Individual Medley: 2:25.04 (Old: 2:25.84, 2018)
Mya Harris (13yrs) – 200m Freestyle: 2:07.11 (Old: 2:08.39, 2009)
Mya Harris (13yrs) – 100m Butterfly: 1:05.50 (Old: 1:05.59, 2009)
Skylah-Violet Bean (10yrs) – 50m Butterfly: 34.56 (Old: 35.3, 2024)
Martina Alvarez-Calderon (10yrs) – 50m Backstroke: 37.09 (Old: 37.98, 2022)
Melly Lee (10yrs) – 50m Breaststroke: 41.35 (Old: 41.98, 2022)
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