Flynn Southam has backed up his triple gold medal winning performances at the Commonwealth Games by blitzing the 200m freestyle final at the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu.
Flynn’s time (1.47.11) also broke the Championship Record set by American Drew Kibler (1.47.65) at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacs.
The 17-year-old Bull Shark swimmer was neck and neck with 15-year-old American Maximus Williamson at the first 50m turn before pulling ahead.
The year 12 student at Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School in Terranora has further proved he is a sprint freestyler to watch heading into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Flynn is fresh from an impressive debut at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games where he won three gold medals (4x100m relay, 4x200m relay, 4x100m mixed freestyle relay).
Unfortunately, Milla Jansen missed out on the A-final of the 200m freestyle which was won by Erin Gemmell from Texas (1.56.15). Jansen instead swam in the B-final, producing a superb last 50 metres to claim victory (1.59.44) ahead of Sydney’s Olivia Wunsch.
Jesse Coleman, 18, earned the last spot in the A-final of the 200m butterfly after finishing third in his heat (2.01.54). America’s Aaron Shackell, who swam the fastest time in the heats, also dominated the final (1.55.81) ahead of fellow Team USA swimmer Thomas Heilman. Coleman finished eighth.
The head coach of the Junior Australian Dolphins is Bond mentor Chris Mooney, who rightly predicted the Americans would be his squad’s fiercest competition.
Bond University is represented by four swimmers, Joshua Collett is yet to swim in his events - the 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and the 200 individual medley.
The Junior Pan Pacs is open to athletes aged 13-18 from Australia, Canada, Japan, the US, New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji and Singapore.
For full results of every race so far head to the Swim Swam website https://swimswam.com/.