17-Year-Old Edwards-Smith Nails 1:52.29 (SCM) 200 Back Aussie Age Record

2020 WESTERN AUSTRALIA SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, September 4th – Sunday, September 6th
• HBF Stadium
• SCM (25m)
• Entries
• SwimSwam Preview
• Results: Meet Mobile

Swimmers in Western Australia dove off the blocks today at the 2020 WA Short Course Championships.

Elite swimmers to the tune of Holly Barratt and Brianna Throssell are entered in several events alongside the age group set, giving everyone a chance to flex their racing muscles after weeks of lockdown. Most WA restrictions were lifted as of the end of June/early July, which means swimmers have had about 2 months of training, at most, under their belts to this point.

For 32-year-old Barratt, the Rockingham athlete touched the wall in a time of 25.69 to easily top the women’s 50m fly field by nearly 2 seconds. She also knocked down the 100m IM field with a winning effort of 1:01.85.

Of note, Throssell was set to compete in the 50m fly but was a no-show. We’ll keep an eye on the Olympian for the remainder of her events, which were set to include the 100m fly and 50m/100m/200m free.

Turning heads in the men’s 200m backstroke event was 17-year-old Joshua Edwards-Smith of UWA West Coast. The versatile teen busted out the fastest 200m backstroke time of his career, stopping the clock in a mighty 1:52.29.

Splitting 54.93/57.36, Edwards-Smith’s time not only overtook his own previous lifetime best of 1:54.09 but his result tonight also checks-in as a new Australian Age Record for 17-year-olds.

Olympic medalist Mitch Larkin was the former age record holder with his 1:54.63 form 2010. However, Thomas Hauck lowered that to a new mark of 1:54.11 just weekend. Now, with his performance, Edwards-Smith is the fastest Aussie 17-year-old ever by just under 2 seconds.

For additional perspective, Edwards-Smith’s 1:52.29 here would have placed 15th at the 2018 Short Course World Championships.

This meet represents the teen’s 2nd occasion back in the racing waters in as many months, as he also competed at the WA SC Qualifier in July. He took on the 50m/100m/200m free events, as well as the 100m and 200m back races, topping the podium in each for 5 individual gold medals.

In the free events, Edwards-Smith produced the following results: 23.72 in the 50m, 50.39 in the 100m and 1:51.57 in the 200m.

His 100m back checked in at 54.00, within striking distance of his lifetime best of 53.47, while his 200m back performance was also solid. In that latter race, he posted a mark of 1:56.09. As such, his 1:52.29 time tonight means the kid dropped nearly 4 solid seconds in just a month’s time.

Edwards-Smith has been dominant in the age group rankings in this 200m back event, holding the age record for 14-year-olds (1:57.35) and 15-year-olds (1:54.05).