Swimming: Baylis to take on Australia's best

NZ REP: Paddy Baylis (right) is competing at his third State Teams Age Short Course Championships in Canberra this weekend. He first competed in 2015, alongside Jack Weston, left. PHOTO/FILE

No matter how many times Rotorua swimmer Paddy Baylis represents New Zealand, it is a feeling he never gets sick of.

This weekend he is part of a New Zealand team taking on Australia's best age group swimmers at an Australian inter-state competition in Canberra.

It is the third consecutive year the 17-year-old has been selected for the event, during which he will compete in the 400m and 1500m freestyle, 200m medley and 200m backstroke.

It is a team competition and while New Zealand are a guest team and therefore aren't awarded any points for their placings, Baylis said it was an opportunity to test himself.

"It's a really good experience and it's great to be able to race Australians because they're really fast and one of the best swimming countries in the world. It's an opportunity to see how good the rest of the world is and where I'm at in comparison.

"I'm feeling really excited, I feel like my training's been really good and I should be able to get some good times and race well," Baylis said.

He said having the opportunity to represent New Zealand was "amazing".

"You really feel like you're part of a team and you have everyone behind you which helps you be onto it and race well. You form really good friendships with the rest of the team as well."

While he was feeling good going into the event, which begins tomorrow, his primary focus was the New Zealand Short Course Championships in Auckland next month.

"I definitely want to be swimming really fast here, but I do have nationals a week later. It's about trying to perform really well at both.

"Last year [in Australia] I was the fastest 16-year-old in my best event, the 1500m freestyle. I'd definitely like to do well in that again."

Baylis has achieved some impressive results this year, picking up medals in a range of local and national events, and felt he was reaping the benefits of some tinkering with his technique.

"We've done a lot of work on stroke technique and trying to make my distance per stroke really long, so it's more efficient. I think that's gone really well and I've definitely felt faster in training.

"My goal is to just perform as well as I can and feel like I've raced to the best of my ability."