Territory swimming superstar Macey Sheridan shining on the national stage

A young swimming sensation is eyeing off Australia’s golden girl Kaylee McKeown and a future Olympic spot following a haul of golds at the Australian Age Group Swimming Championships.

A teenage Territorian swimming sensation has shocked the country cleaning up gold medals and breaking records at the Australian Age Group Swimming Championships.

Macey Sheridan, 13, is a long time member of the Darwin Swimming Club and this week has shown what Top End swimmers are made of, winning five gold medals so far on the Gold Coast.

Perhaps most impressive was her 100m backstroke gold in which clocked an incredibly impressive time of 1:03.69, just more than a second shy of the Australian record set by Kaylee McKeown in 2015.

Her other medals have come in the 50m backstroke (29.59), 50m freestyle (26.63), 200m backstroke (2:19.90) and 50m butterfly (27.96), breaking NT records in each.

And while Sheridan has been swimming competitively since she was eight, the sensational performance she’s put in for just her first national outing has caught everyone by surprise.

Territorian Macey Sheridan has dominated at the Australian Age Group Swimming Championships.

Coach Tim Few, a previous winner of the NT Coach of the Year accolade, said the speed in which Sheridan took to national competition was a shock to everyone.

“We expected her to do fairly well on the national stage, but we certainly didn’t expect her to be blowing it away as well as what she has,” Few said.

“This is her first national championships, but she’s been away a couple of times before for school sports, exposing her a little bit to swimming outside the Territory.

“But a lot of her stuff has just been progressing slowly over the past two years, which is when she started to break a lot of the local NT records.

“It’s definitely been a massive shock to us and a bit of a surprise with how well she has done for us and it’s great for the support network she has around her as well.”

Sheridan now has her sights set on rising through the age groups and eventually cracking into the Olympic team with the 2028 Los Angeles event a strong possibility.

Territorian Macey Sheridan has shocked the country claiming five gold medals in the Australian Age Group Swimming Championships.

“Looking at her backstroke, someone who was in the same boat at 13 is the current 100m backstroke world record holder Kaylee McKeown,” Few said.

“McKeown is the fastest 50m backstroke in the world at the moment, and if Macey continues to progress and improve as she has so far that’s someone she’s mirroring.

“The plan and her ultimate goal is to try and make an Olympic team, so we will be looking at 2028 or Brisbane 2032 for her to progress through the ranks and get into that Australian team.”

Macey is the first Territorian to medal at the championships since Flynn White scored the bronze in the 400m freestyle.

But she isn’t alone in the 2023 championships with the NT’s Bayleigh Young, Melissa Roberts, Sampson Gee, Patrick Brown, Chloe Reader and James Smith all performing well in their own rights.

“It’s just showing the rest of the nation we have a lot of talent up in the Territory,” Few said.

“They can’t just ignore us now. That’s been the best part about it almost, she’s been able to show off her talent and also the talents and skillsets the Territory actually has to offer.”