2025 Aussie Age Championships: 16-Yr-Old Henry Allan Blasts 24.88 50 Back

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 AUSTRALIAN AGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, April 10th – Friday, April 18th
• Brisbane Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
• Live Results

An additional four records bit the dust as day five of able-bodied competition unfolded at the 2025 Australian Age Championships.

16-year-old Sienna Toohey impressed yet again, establishing a new lifetime best en route to capturing her fourth gold of the competition.

After already topping her age category’s podiums in the 100m breast, 200m breast and 200m IM, Albury Amateur’s Toohey added a 50m breast victory to her hardware haul.

Toohey stopped the clock at a speedy 30.73, easily overtaking the former Australian Age and All Comers Record of 31.28 retired Olympian Chelsea Hodges put on the books in 2018.

Sienna Toohey& Olympia Pope, courtesy of Nardia Mulkerrins (@photosbynardia)

Entering this competition, Toohey’s personal best sat at the 31.06 established at the NSW State Open Championships just last month. As such, this is her first time ever dipping under the 31-second threshold. Her effort here now renders her the 10th-swiftest performer in the world this season, tying a trio of other international athletes.

As we’ve mentioned, Toohey’s rise is coming at just the right time for Australian women’s breaststroking. The nation has struggled to find a consistent replacement for Jenna Strauch and Hodges who both missed the 2023 championship season due to injuries.

After claiming medley relay silver last year in Paris, 28-year-old Strauch recently announced her decision to retire while Hodges surprisingly revealed her retirement ahead of last year’s Olympic Trials.

Two records fell victim in the backstroke events, one in the 14-year-old boys’ 100m race and one in the 16-year-old boys’ 50m race.

Bryce Krause, courtesy of Nardia Mulkerrins (@photosbynardia)

Fairholme’s Bryce Krause produced a time of 57.07 in the former, ripping his former personal best of 58.44 from last months to shreds.

Krause opened in 27.78 and closed in 29.29 to beat his competitors by over 2 seconds. In doing so, the teen erased the former Australian Record of 57.53 Olympian Joshua Edwards-Smith held since 2018.

Bendigo East Swim Club standout Henry Allan cranked out another age mark in the latter race, turning in a time of 24.88 for his first performance under the 25-second barrier.

Allan’s outing surpassed Olympian Isaac Cooper‘s Australian and All Comers benchmark of 25.27 from 2020.

Allan has been on fire at these championships, including making a statement with the athlete’s 53.73 100m back stunner from day 3. His 50m back time this evening situates the teen just outside the list of top 10 performers worldwide on the season at the moment.

The final record of the evening went down in the boys’ aged 16-18 4x50m free relay. The Knox Pymble foursome of Jake Mitchell, Tristen Waugh, Daniel Seo and Dylan Zhou combined to put up a time of 1:33.66 to grab gold.

Additional Notes

• Rockhampton’s Amelie Smith won the 16-year-old girls’ 400m IM race in a stellar 4:45.49, dipping under the World Junior Championships qualification standard by 5 seconds. This gold is added to her 800m and 1500m free top finishes. Post-race Smith told Swimming Australia, “When I hit the wall, I was so stoked turning around and seeing that time. I did want to go a little bit quicker, but I was still really happy. My goal coming into this meet was to get a medal or make a final in each of them. I feel … like I might just have a bit more grit. Most people focus on a specific stroke but I kind of do everything. I even like open water.”
• Following in his Olympic swimming footsteps of father Matt Dunn, Lukas Dunn won the boys’ 15-year-old 100m back in a time of 57.11 and also reaped the top spot in the 50m fly in 24.74 to continue his success.

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