Flynn Southam Headlines Australian Roster For 2023 World Junior Championships

Swimming Australia has named 30 swimmers to its roster for the 2023 World Junior Championships, with the team having been selected based on performances at the recently-concluded Australian Age & Open Championships.

The roster will be headlined by Flynn Southam, the rising 17-year-old star who won five medals at the Short Course World Championships in December and added three gold medals last summer at the Commonwealth Games (all on relays).

Southam had a monstrous performance earlier this week at the Aussie Age Group Championships, notably hitting respective times of 48.91 in the 100 free and a PB of 1:46.24 in the 200 free.

Australia will field a roster at this year’s World Juniors, scheduled for Sept. 4-9 in Netanya, Israel, after it was one of the countries to sit out of the 2022 edition in Lima, Peru.

Last year, the Aussies competed at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships instead, where Southam swept the boys’ 50, 100 and 200 free while adding three relay medals. Australia was joined by the U.S., Canada, Japan and Singapore at the meet.

Two other noteworthy names on Australia’s roster for Junior Worlds are Jamie Perkins and Milla Jansen, who combined to win five individual medals at Junior Pan Pacs last year.

Perkins won a trio of silver medals in the girls’ 200, 400 and 800 free, and also gained some senior international experience by representing Australia at SC Worlds in Melbourne.

Jansen won the girls’ 50 free and claimed silver in the 100 free at Junior Pan Pacs last year, and also put up a pair of 53.9 relay legs for Australia.

FULL AUSTRALIAN ROSTER

“It was fantastic to see so many wonderful performances at this year’s competition, it is a real credit to everyone involved in the sport and a great way to celebrate being back to an uninterrupted swimming programming after COVID” Gary Barclay, GM Performance Pathways, said of the Age & Open Championships.

The team will feature six coaches, led by Simon Cusack as head coach. Team coaches selected for the tour are James Boyce (MCA), Jol Finck (Nunawading), Michaela Pattinson (Carlile), Kyle Samuelson (Bond), Richard Sleight (St Peters) and Ben Tuxford (Trinity Grammar).

The team will depart for Staging Camp in Paphos, Cyprus on August 25 to prepare for the championships in early September.

“We’re really looking forward to getting into camp and are excited by the depth of talent representing Australia on the world stage” said Barclay.

The 2023 World Junior Swimming will run from Sept. 4-9 at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel.