There will be ten Bull Sharks standing on the blocks at this week’s Commonwealth Games, among them three Australian medal chances and seven international athletes looking to claim national records.
We spoke with Bond University’s coaches about the Bull Sharks’ ambitions in Glasgow.
Kyle Samuelson – Director of Swimming, Bond University
THE AUSSIE MEDAL CONTENDERS
Hannah Casey (Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science) (Australia)
She had a breakthrough performance at the trials last year and went on to win her first senior international medal at the World Championships in Singapore. She’s now backing up for her second year as a Dolphin and it’s about being consistent, executing the race plan she’s been working on in training with Chris (Head coach Chris Mooney) and delivering on that one swim. The Australian women have had huge success in the relays in the past, so for Hannah it’s about delivering her best performance when it matters and ideally adding to the collection of medals she’s starting to gather on an international level.
Catch her in: Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle medley relay
Ben Armbruster (Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science) (Australia)
Ben trains a bit differently to most of the squad in regard to workload. The work he does is high intensity and very powerful, and he takes a bit more rest too, so he’ll be enjoying the taper over in Germany. He's had a few great years since his breakthrough in 2022, has trained well and is now one of the best in the world in his event. Being his second Commonwealth Games, he’s looking to win medals individually and he wouldn't be afraid to say it. He’s well placed to do that if he puts his best foot forward and that may come with a PB. Either way, he’ll be looking to bring a medal home.
Catch him in: Men’s 50m butterfly
Flynn Southam (Australia)
His training’s gone up a level since the trials. He came home and locked in and that’s how you want it to be - building momentum from the trials into a major event. He's happy with how he’s swimming technically and is enjoying the process. He’s also excited to be doing different events; he wouldn’t usually be swimming the 50m freestyle on an international stage so he’s looking forward to it. He’ll aim to be a key figure in the relays and continue the good momentum the Australian men have built over the last couple of years even with people dropping in and out of the team. The core of that group is ready to deliver on the big stage, and they’ll be excited to get together and do that. But Flynn is also aiming for an individual medal. Like Ben, he’s not be afraid to say that, and he’s been preparing accordingly.
Catch him in: Men’s 100m freestyle
Zander Hey – Senior Assistant Coach
THE BRILLIANT BREASTSTROKERS
Lanihei Connelly (Bachelor of Biomedical Science) (Cook Islands)
Lani’s swim at World Championships in Singapore last year is one the greatest performances from a Cook Islander ever. She raced in a non-seeded heat from an outside lane and still swam a time that put her within reach of the Australian team qualifiers. She’s at the top in the Cook Islands but also in Australia, and is one of the front runners whenever she competes. Since Singapore, she’s been building on her professionalism and has quite a few big international meets under her belt now. She knows how to keep herself composed and swim her own race, and often that's what gets you through to semifinals and finals. She'll have a bit more on her plate in terms of events at these Games with three individual swims but she’s excited about it and so are we.
Catch her in: Women’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 4 x100m mixed medley relay
Jacob Te Atamira Story (Cook Islands)
He is a force in general. He’s really excited for the change we made at the beginning of the year, which allowed him to specialise in breaststroke. It’s only for a short time as he is a swimming machine – the medley, freestyle - he can do it all, but that can be quite heavy and restrictive when you're going to big meets and swimming such a broad spectrum of events. We’ve allowed him this opportunity to have more confidence in his breaststroke and he’s been focusing on that for the last six months and in that time, has absolutely smashed his PB’s, which were already fast. He medalled at the Australian Age Championships which was a big focus for him and has been a bit of a stepping stone to senior competition. He’s still quite a pup but he handles himself very well and is beyond his years in immaturity. He gets up against the big guys, even though some of them have been to two or three Olympics and a number of Commonwealth Games. I think the challenge for him is to stay calm and race his race. If he does that, he'll absolutely swim well enough to make it out of the heats.
Catch him in: Men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 4x100m mixed medley relay
Kalera Mudunasoko (Fiji)
Last year she was in her final year of school, meaning she came to us quite late in the season and had to start from scratch as she hadn't trained or competed in a while. she had a lot to learn and did an amazing job. Though she competed at the last Commonwealth Games as a 14-year-old, she is a much more developed, mature swimmer this time around.
Catch her in: Women’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 4 x100m mixed medley relay
Christian Toia (Samoa)
Catch him in: Men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley
Christian's been in our program for the last three years while he’s been completing his university degree and has been a great part of the group. He came back from a very big break in the middle of last year where he was considering his swimming career and there was every chance that he was ready to walk away. When he came back, he did absolutely everything that we asked. He’s been training incredibly well and has started annihilating his career best times.
THE TONGAN FLYER
Finau Ouhafi (Tonga)
He's looking great. He is such a fun character to have around and on top of that, he'll always step up and be hard on himself in training. He's been chasing some elusive times for a few years now and he only gets closer and closer every time he gets an opportunity. For Finau, it will be about timing. He's had a good run in our last training block and if all the pieces fall into the right place, we should see some PBs and national records from him.
Catch him in: Men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly
THE SPRINTERS
Josh Tarere (Papua New Guinea)
In the last few weeks of taper, he's swum his fastest ever times. He's going in with a new sense of confidence, which I hope will pay off for him. It’s about levelling out the excitement, calming himself and just repeating what he’s been doing in training.
Catch him in: Men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 4 x100m mixed medley relay
Siwakhile Dlamini (Eswatini)
She was very young when she joined our program and she’s held up considerably well at the bigger international meets. She’s extremely disciplined and very mature and just recently broke the national record in two freestyle events. She’s going in with a confidence boost as she’s been training nonstop with very minimal hiccups. We’re very likely to see her not just win her heat but progress herself up the overall rankings quite considerably.
Catch her in: Women’s 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly