Kokoro Frost and Phoebe Nelson.
Two Kāpiti swimmers have returned from the Oceania Swimming Championships – both decked out in medals.
Kokoro Frost and Phoebe Nelson returned from the championships, which are held every two years in alignment with the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, with impressive results, coming back with multiple medals each.
The championships were cancelled the last two times, and this year they were held on the Gold Coast in Australia.
This was the first time either Frost or Nelson had competed in the championships, despite Frost being selected six times before.
Frost came back from the championships with four medals – bronze in the 50m backstroke, bronze in the 4x50 medley relay, silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay, and silver in the 4x100 medley relay.
He said he had gone into the competition with a goal of “bringing back some silver for Samoa”.
Another highlight for Frost was swimming alongside Nelson, whom he trains with every day.
“I was lucky enough to swim alongside my club teammate, Phoebe.”
Swimming in the pool where the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held was another highlight for him, and he also managed to get two personal bests – in the 50m backstroke and the 100m butterfly.
Frost, who started swimming competitively when he was 8 as part of the Ōtaki Titans Club, is now training towards the Olympics later this year.
He wanted to thank his coach, Jon Winter, whom Frost said he had fostered a great relationship with, and his family for their support.
Like Frost, Nelson also came back with a couple of medals.
She got a bronze medal in the women’s 50m freestyle and was part of the 4x50m mixed medley relay and the 4x50m mixed freestyle relay teams – both of which won silver medals.
“I swam freestyle for both relays. Relays were something new for me as we don’t have enough senior girls at Titans to enter relays in New Zealand competitions, so focusing on my start was important as I didn’t want to false start and get the team disqualified.
“I had not met the other swimmers on the New Zealand team before, so it was great getting to know them and also meeting swimmers from the other countries poolside and in the marshalling room before racing.”
Nelson said it was also “nice seeing Kokoro over there and being able to experience it with my teammate and good friend”.
“We also got to race each other in the 4x50m medley relay where New Zealand got silver and Samoa got bronze.”
A highlight for Nelson was training in the world-class facilities.
“We raced at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre which held the 2018 Commonwealth Games and trained at the Gold Coast Performance Centre. Both were outdoor 50m pools which were great when it was sunny but made it a bit challenging having to deal with the elements when it was raining and cold.”
As this was her first international competition, she said going into it her coach told her to enjoy it, take in the whole experience and learn a lot.
“I was not focused on winning medals, just controlling what I can to put forward my best performance - the medals were a nice bonus though.”
After taking about two weeks off swimming following the competition, Nelson, who has been swimming since she was a toddler, is now training for her next competition – the New Zealand Short Course Champs in Auckland which happens in August.