12yo Aussie breaks iconic Grant Hackett swimming record

A junior talent is all the talk in Australian swimming circles after finally ending a record Grant Hackett held for 32 years.

A 12-year-old Australian talent has broken an iconic Grant Hackett record that has stood for 32-years.

Gold Coaster Braxtyn Truman has already been touted as a potential star of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics after his scorching swim at the Gold Coast Long Course Championship on Friday night.

Code Sports reports, Truman is the first Aussie competing in an U12 event to best Hackett’s 400m freestyle swim in 1993.

According to the Townsville Bulletin’s Nic Darveniza, Truman’s 400m freestyle time of 4.39.98 was 0.31 seconds quicker than the mark Hackett established as the benchmark for more than three decades.

“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 (Olympics in 2000), and we’re now seven years out from Brisbane.

Olympic champion Grant Hackett returned to swimming in 2015 — seven years after retiring. AFP PHOTO / PETER PARKS.

“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 is very aware of the similarities between his journey and the path Hackett took on his way to three Olympic gold medals, countless world records and 10 world titles.

“I’m training my heart out to hopefully make the Olympics one day and follow in Grant Hackett’s footsteps to win those events,” he told Code Sports.

“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.”

Hackett, 44, finished his career with five Commonwealth Games gold medals.

He would have cleaned up more medals were it not for Aussie relay teammate Ian Thorpe.

Hackett remains the king of Australian distance swimming and it is only now that highly-touted 21-year-old Sam Short is being mentioned as the man that will succeed him.

Braxtyn Truman at the 2025 Swimming Gold Coast Long Course Championships. Picture: Photos By Nadia

Short won the 400m freestyle event at the 2024 World Aquatic Championships as well as silver and bronze respectively in the 800m and 1500m.

Elijah Winnington has been Australia’s most successful distance swimmer in recent times with one silver medal and two bronze medals at Olympic level.

Hackett has watched on in recent years as most of his world records at global events have fallen.

Hackett dominated the 1500m freestyle event for a decade after setting the world record in 2001. That mark was only bested when China’s Sun Yang went quicker by 0.42 seconds in 2011.

Hackett also held word records in the 200m and 800m freestyle events.

The only one he never claimed was in the 400m freestyle where Thorpe remained king for 10 years before Germany’s Paul Biedermann bested it by 0.01 seconds in 2009. That record still stands.

It is all there for Truman to chase.

Hackett, meanwhile, has moved on from his swimming career and is the CEO of ASX-listed financial services company Generation Development Group.

He is the proud father of four children.

He admitted recently that while he missed some aspects of professional swimming, “I love not training”.

Originally published as 12yo Aussie breaks iconic Grant Hackett swimming record