Australia Names 25-Strong Dolphins Team For World Para Swimming Championships In Singapore

Australia Names 25-Strong Team For World Para Swimming Championships In Singapore

Australia has named a 25-strong team, including nine Paralympic gold medalists, for the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships following a successful Selection Trials Meet which concluded in Adelaide last night.

The World Championships will be held in Singapore from September 21-27.

The Australian team will feature five Paris gold medallists in Alexa Leary (Bond, QLD), Timothy Hodge (Blacktown, NSW), Ben Hance (St Andrews, QLD), Callum Simpson (Flinders Phoenix, QLD) and Tom Gallagher (St Peters Western, QLD) who are among 22 athletes from the Paris team.

They will be joined by 2012, 2016 and 2020 gold medallists, Brenden Hall (USC Spartans, QLD), Lakeisha Patterson (USC Spartans, QLD) and Rachael Watson (Chandler, QLD).Hall, 32, is a five-time Paralympian and two-time gold medallist who was the Australian Flagbearer in Paris and at 32 is the oldest of the gold medallists, with triple Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson the most senior member selected at 36 years of age.

Patterson is joined by long-term pal and four-time Paralympian Ahmed Kelly who is 33.

The veteran pair are stalwarts of the green and gold and have shared many podiums, most notably consecutive men’s 150m individual medley SM3 (Tokyo-Paris).

 While breakthrough swimmer of the meet, rising star Declan Budd (Knox Pymble, NSW) is the baby of the team at 17 after he won th 100m butterfly and finished second in the 200IM.

Triple Paralympian and two-time Games golden girl, Patterson, who did not swim in Adelaide, was named on the team with a medical exemption and is subject to her meeting performance standards prior to World Championships.

There have been some outstanding swims in Adelaide, but none better than Hance from the Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, coached by Olympian Ashley Delaney.

Hance set two world records, including the 100m backstroke (S14) coming on the final day, with his time of 56.35 in yesterday morning’s heats – narrowly missing it again in the final.

With Leary (Coach Jon Bell) nudging her 100m freestyle (S9) world record on Day Four – merely 0.01 of a second outside her own mark which she has broken three times this year already, admitting that she was saving herself for the big show, where she can let it rip on the world stage in Singapore.Brisbane’s two-time Paralympic silver medallist,

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Alexa Leary’s autograph much sought after in Adelaide. Next stop Singapore. Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

Jake Michel (Carina Leagues, QLD; Coach: Brian Glass) was also in red-hot form, posting a PB in all six of his races, including a SB14 National record time of 1:03.74 in the 100m breaststroke that would have won him gold in Paris.

Crothers, who moved from Queensland to South Australia to join coach Kate Sparkes in the SASI program also posted the fastest 50m and 100m freestyle (S10) times this year.

General Manager of Swimming Australia’s Paralympic Program, Anna Johnson said: “It’s been a great week of racing for our para swimmers.

“Off the back of a successful Paralympic Games where every male Dolphin stood on the Paris podium, we are ambitious in our plan to become one of the top Paralympic swimming nations in the world by Brisbane 2032.

“Our qualifying standards are high, and our team will rise to these challenges. With world-class athletes like Ben (Hance) and Alexa (Leary) in our ranks, who keep breaking world records, you can expect nothing short of inspirational. I look forward to seeing what the team will achieve in Singapore.”

YOU BUDDY BEAUTY: Rookie of the Team Declan Budd celebrates his QT in Adelaide Photo Courtesy Delly Carr, Swimming Australia

Para Classifications:

S1-S10 for athletes with physical impairments.

S11-S13 for athletes with visual impairments.

S14 for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
The team will head to Darwin for a staging camp before the meet. Australian Team, World Para Championships, Singapore (September 21-27):