Sam Skidmore has been selected to swim for NZ at the Oceania Swimming Championships in Fiji this month. Photo / Simon Watts
Sam Skidmore has been selected to swim for NZ at the Oceania Swimming Championships in Fiji this month. Photo / Simon Watts
A Hawke’s Bay teen swimmer has achieved his goal of being selected to represent his country.
But that’s only one of his many targets.
Lindisfarne student Sam Skidmore, 16, has been selected to swim for New Zealand at the 2026 Oceania Swimming Championships in Suva, Fiji, from May 9 to12.
Skidmore’s selection followed his success at the National Age Group Swimming Championships at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre in April, where he picked up four silver medals in his age group.
The young athlete said he started taking swimming seriously around the age of 12.
“Before then, I wasn’t that focused, and I probably wouldn’t have actually kept swimming if it wasn’t for my sisters and my mum, who just pushed me to keep going.”
Sam Skidmore trains with coach Kirsty Johnson (right) for the Trojan Swim Club. Photo / Jack Riddell
Skidmore swims for Trojan Swim Club, where Kirsty Johnson coaches him.
Johnson said the club had a rigorous programme set before the age group champs and national selection, and Skidmore had taken it all in his stride.
“He’s always putting up his hand, asking the question, not just listening to the coach, and I think that’s quite valuable with progressing his swimming.
“He’s just well received in the team, especially to our young ones coming through. They look up to ones like Sam and think, that could be me one day. So it’s quite inspirational and we’re very proud of him as a team.”
Skidmore’s training schedule before the Oceania Championships includes nine 90-minute pool sessions and two gym sessions a week.
With Hawke’s Bay enduring a cold autumn, he said he was looking forward to competing in the heat of Suva because he hates the cold.
With the first of his goals ticked off, Skidmore is now eyeing up a scholarship to swim for a university or college in the United States.
