Travis Mahoney is a medley and backstroke specialist from Melbourne, Australia. Although he was a late bloomer onto the world swimming scene, he has enjoyed international success. He made his Olympic debut at age 26 at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He qualified for the games after finishing second in the 400 medley at the Australian Trials, a feat he dedicated to his idol, his Aunt Sally McLellan who died after a nine-year battle with cancer months before.
Mahoney trains at the Nunawading Swimming Club under Head Coach Rohan Taylor. Along with Mahoney, Coach Taylor took two other of his club swimmers with him to the Rio Olympics, Joshua Beaver and Belinda Hocking.
International Career
Making his international debut at age 22, Mahoney represented Australia at the 2012 World Cup Series, picking up three medals. In the same year he was in Istanbul for the World Short Course Championships where he won a silver and bronze as a member of the 400 and 800 meter freestyle relays.
Over five legs of the 2013 World Cup Circuit, Mahoney picked up two golds, a silver and three bronze medals. His golds came as part of the 4×50 meter mixed freestyle relay. In Tokyo, Mahoney, Tammaso D’Orsogna and Cate and Bronte Campbell to break the World Record in 1:29.61.
In 2014, Mahoney was in Glasgow, Scotland for the Commonwealth Games before heading back home to the Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast. He made three finals at the two meets, the 400 medley at both and the 200 medley at the Pan Pacs.
After narrowly missing out on the 2015 World Championship team, Mahoney instead represented Australia at the World University Games. He earned a silver medal as part of the 800 meter freestyle relay.
2016 Rio Olympic Games
In his Olympic final debut, Mahoney finished 7th in the 400 meter individual medley in 4:15.48, one place behind his Aussie teammate Thomas Fraser-Holmes. Later in the week, he swam the heats of the 200 meter individual medley where he finished 20th in 2:00.18.
