Elijah proves he is a true star of the pool
SWIM prodigy Elijah Winnington faces a tough decision over his program for the world junior championships after winning eight gold medals at the national championships.
Gold Coast swimmer Winnington, who trains alongside Olympic medallist Cameron McEvoy in coach Richard Scarce’s Bond University squad, claimed a perfect eight gold from eight events at the age championships at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre this week.
The 16-year-old was last night named in the Australian team for the world junior championships in Indianapolis, America, in August.
And Scarce said he was likely to tackle a big program after winning four freestyle, two butterfly and two individual medley events at nationals.
“It’ll be a busy week because he’ll have relays as well, so it depends on the program and what’s on what day,’’ he said.
“But his main events, the freestyle, he’s got a 200m butterfly at the end of the week but if he’s got the opportunity to race, he probably will.
“There’s no harm, he’s used to doing it.”
Winnington’s times were outside what he wanted but Scarce said his achievements could not be underestimated given he’d battled recent illness and had also raced open nationals the week before.
“He bettered last year and that was the goal for us,’’ Scarce said of the youngster’s effort to add the one-lap dash to his seven-event 2016 schedule and still remain unbeaten.
“He battled a couple of colds and bacterial infections since NSW state (titles) six weeks ago and he had to go and race at school state champs, so it probably cost him a bit.
“I know he wanted to achieve faster times but really, it was about managing him and getting him on the junior team after the first week (at open nationals) when he was quite flat.
“He did a good job of that, so I’m quite proud of him.”
The results are another stepping stone for Winnington on his journey towards his ultimate goal of claiming a place in Australia’s team for next year’s Commonwealth Games, something Scarce believes is achievable.
“He is a chance for sure, he’s a big chance,’’ Scarce said.
“It’ll be very tough competition but I think he’s got a real opportunity.
“I think it’s more the 200m and 400m free, even the 200m butterfly (that he will concentrate on). It’ll be pretty hard to get an individual (swim) but he’ll certainly go for it.
“I don’t want to rush him, he’s got plenty of time but we’ll certainly progress him along a bit when the time’s right.”
Some of the toughest competition will come from within his own squad including McEvoy, Thomas FraserHolmes, Alex Graham and Brayden McCarthy.