Kokoro Frost and Phoebe Nelson.
Two Kapiti athletes returned home from the Oceania Swimming Championships and both won medals.
Kokoro Frost and Phoebe Nelson returned from the biennial championships, which coincide with the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, with impressive results, each winning multiple medals.
The previous two editions were canceled, and this year it was held on Australia's Gold Coast.
This was the first time Frost and Nelson were competing in the championship, although Frost had been selected six times previously.
Frost returned from the championships with four medals: bronze in the 50-meter backstroke, bronze in the 4×50 medley relay, silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay, and silver in the 4×100 medley relay.
He said he entered the competition with the goal of “bringing a silver medal home to Samoa.''
Another highlight for Frost was swimming with Nelson, who he trains with every day.
“I was lucky enough to swim with my club teammate Phoebe.”
Another highlight for him was swimming in the pool where the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held, where he also managed to set new personal bests in two events: the 50m backstroke and the 100m butterfly.
Frost, who started swimming as a member of the Otaki Titans club at the age of eight, is currently training for the Olympics later this year.
Frost said he would like to thank coach John Winter, with whom he has built a great relationship, and his family for their support.
Like Frost, Nelson came away with several medals.
She won a bronze medal in the women's 50m freestyle and was part of the 4x50m mixed medley relay and 4x50m mixed freestyle relay teams, both of which won silver medals.
“I swam the freestyle in both relays. Relays were new to me as the Titans don't have enough senior women to take part in relays at the New Zealand Games, so I was able to focus on the start. It was important. I didn't want to disqualify my team by getting a wrong start.
“I had never met the other athletes on the New Zealand team before, so it was great to get to know them, and also meet athletes from other countries by the pool and in the marshals room before the race. I was very happy.”
“It was also great to see Kokoro there and experience it with my teammates and good friends,” Nelson said.
“We also competed in the 4x50m medley relay, where New Zealand won silver and Samoa won bronze.”
The highlight for Nelson was training in a world-class facility.
“We raced at the Gold Coast Aquatic Center, where the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held, and trained at the Gold Coast Performance Centre. Both have an outdoor 50m pool which was great when it was sunny. But when it was raining and cold, it was a bit difficult to deal with the wind and rain.”
Since this was her first international competition, she said her coach told her to have fun, soak up the whole experience and learn a lot.
“I wasn't focused on winning a medal, just controlling what I could do to give my best performance. But the medal was a nice bonus.”
After taking about two weeks off from swimming after the competition, Nelson, who has been swimming since she was a toddler, is now training for her next competition, the New Zealand Short Course Championships in Auckland in August. There is.
