For only the second time in history, the coveted Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimmer of the Year Award has been shared – this year by triple FINA World Championship gold medallists Bronte Campbell and Emily Seebohm.
Campbell and Seebohm both won double gold at the recent Championships in Kazan, Russia and were team mates on Australia’s gold medal winning 4x100m freestyle relay team.
Australia’s other double gold medalist and Commonwealth record holder from Kazan, also in the 100 and 200m backstroke, Mitch Larkin, won the coveted Swimmer’s Swimmer of the Year Award while his coach at St. Peters Western, Michael Bohl was awarded the Hancock Prospecting Olympic Program Coach of the Year.
Swimming Australia president John Bertrand OAM made the presentation at a glittering black tie awards night at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Bronte Campbell won gold in the 50 and 100m freestyle with sister Cate taking the bronze and both girls combining with Seebohm and Emma McKeon on the all-conquering sprint freestyle relay.
Campbell also seals another slice of history, joining sister Cate, the winner of the prestigious Australian Swimmer of the Year award in 2013 and 2014, as the only siblings to win the award. She also became the first Australian to win the 50 and 100m freestyle double.
Seebohm became the first Australian to win the 100 and 200m backstroke double at her fifth FINA World Championships, after making her debut in Melbourne in 2007.
It is the first time the award has been shared since Olympic golden boys Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett were named joint winners in 2003.
The pair were also named the Hancock Prospecting Olympic Program Swimmers of the Year while earlier in the evening Seebohm shared the Speedo Golden Moment of the Year with Paralympic golden girl Ellie Cole.
Seebohm capped her Midas world championships with her victory over USA’s Olympic champion Missy Franklin and multi-world champion and medley world record holder, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in the 200m backstroke.
The 23-year-old sat on her lane rope and smashed the water in celebration in a glorious golden moment of rejoicing a special victory.
For Cole, her performance to come back from two years away from international competition and break two world records in one day on her way to a gold medal in the 100m backstroke at the IPC World Championships in Glasgow was worthy of sharing the moment with Seebohm.
But it was Newcastle’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Maddie Elliott who was named the Paralympic Swimmer of the Year for her gold medal-winning, world record breaking swims in Glasgow.
Elliott won four gold medals in the S8 category in the 100m freestyle (world record), 4x100m 34-point freestyle relay, 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle, setting a new world record in the 100m freestyle.
The AIS Discovery of the Year Award wet to 13-year-old Ravenswood Year Eight student Tiffany Thomas Kane who made an historic debut in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB6, winning gold in a world record breaking time.
Thomas Kane, who was born with hypochondroplasia and is a girl of short stature, clocked a new world record time of 1:34.95 to claim the gold medal at her first international meet, after her world record breaking efforts at the Australian Championships in Sydney in March earned her selection on the Australian Dolphins team.
Here is the full list of the 2015 Honour Roll:
2015 HANCOCK PROSPECTING SWIMMER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
HONOUR ROLL
Speedo Golden Moment of the Year: Ellie Cole (Castle Hill RSL Dolphins, NSW) Emily Seebohm (Brisbane Grammar, QLD)
Services to the Australian Swim Team presented by Speedo: Andrew Lauterstein, Eamon Sullivan, Hayden Stoeckel, Matt Cowdrey, Leith Brodie, Matt Targett
Volunteer of the Year: Rosie Hatton – Casuarina Swimming Club, (Northern Territory)
Roger Smith Technical Official of the Year: John Rohloff (NSW)
People’s Choice Award: Lakeisha Patterson (University of Sunshine Coast, QLD)
Hancock Prospecting Swimmer’s Swimmer of the Year: Mitch Larkin (St Peters Western, QLD)
Age Group Coach of the Year: Chris Nesbit (TSS Aquatic, QLD)
Open Water Coach of the Year: Michael Sage (Kawana Aquatic Centre, QLD)
The Brisbane Convention Centre Club of the Year: South Esk Swimming Club (Tasmania)
Hancock Prospecting Paralympic Program Coach of the Year: Paul Sharman (NUSwim Swim Club, NSW)
Hancock Prospecting Olympic Program Coach of the Year: Michael Bohl (St Peters Western, QLD)
AIS Discovery of the Year: Tiffany Thomas Kane (Ravenswood Swimming Club, NSW)
Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Chelsea Gubecka (Kawana Waters, QLD)
Paralympic Swimmer of the Year: Maddie Elliott (NUSwim Swim Club, NSW)
Olympic Program Swimmers of the Year: Bronte Campbell (Commercial, QLD) and Emily Seebohm (Brisbane Grammar, QLD)
2015 Hancock Prospecting Swimmers of the Year: Bronte Campbell (Commercial, QLD) and Emily Seebohm (Brisbane Grammar, QLD)
Above is a press release, courtesy Swimming Australia.
I an so glad for Bronte. She deserves it
Eh, Swimming Australia, I hate to break this to you but not one of the para swimmers who won awards with the exception of Ellie Cole competed in the correct class this year.
Elliott – classed S9 twice now this year, competed as S8, she is being investigated for IM
Patterson – competed in S8 but with her S10,NE, S9,S7,S8 history is most likely ineligible for Para Sport, time will tell.
Tiffany Kane – too tall & will be reclassed next opportunity
So was this just a dress rehearsal and the real para swimmer winners are going to be announced Monday?
Best title for an article ever.