Buenos Aires: In celebration of 50 days to go until the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), here is a rundown on what our incredible young athletes have been working on in the lead up to YOG.
Kaylee McKeown - Swimming
Younger sister of Olympic silver and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Taylor McKeown, 16-year-old Kaylee has been making waves of her own after some strong results at the 2018 Pan Pacs.
McKeown was the top placing Aussie female in the 200m backstroke coming in at fifth, just in front of Emily Seebohm who placed sixth.
McKeown also placed fifth in the 100m backstroke as the second-highest placing Aussie behind Seebohm who took out the silver medal.
McKeown was the youngest member of the Aussie Pan Pacs squad, only making her Australian Team debut last year at the World Championships in Budapest, but since then she has already placed fourth in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the Commonwealth Games and is an exciting prospect for potential YOG gold.
You can catch the rest of our YOG swimmers competing at the Junior Pan Pacs in Fiji from 23-27 August 2018.
Matthew Carter/Alysha Koloi - Diving
Seventeen-year-old Matthew Carter is another 2018 Commonwealth Games alumni and was the youngest competitor in the Aussie diving team.
Impressively, Carter’s very first Commonwealth Games ended with him winning a diving synchro bronze medal, along with a 6th and 8th place in his individual 3m and 1m spring board events.
More recently, Carter participated in the FINA World Junior Diving Championships coming away with two third places and a fifth place.
Alysha Koloi also boasted some great finishes from the FINA World Junior Diving Championships, taking home an individual and team bronze.
The 16-year-old’s successful results at Worlds added to her already impressive resume of triple Junior National Titles for 2018.
Alexandra Fowler/Ruby Porter - Basketball 3x3
Fowler and Porter make up one half of Australia’s YOG 3x3 basketball team, but they also recently represented their country in 5-aside at the U17 Basketball World Cup, taking home the bronze for the Aussie Sapphires.
Fowler already has a FIBA U16 Asian Championship gold under her belt and Porter - an Australian Junior Championship silver, so with the help of their team mates, 2018 Australian National Champs gold medallist Sara-Rose Smith and Centre of Excellence AIS scholarship winner Suzi-Rose Deegan, we hope to see the team recreate a medal-winning performance.
Ned Middlehurst - Sport Climbing
Currently, Australia’s first YOG sports climber, Ned Middlehurst is competing at the IFSC Youth World Championships in Moscow.
Ned achieved 36th place in the Junior Speed category, 45th in Boulder and 46th in Lead.
Keely Small - Athletics
Canberra local Keely Small is the current U18 and U20 Australian National record holder for the 800m and is another YOG’er who participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
At just 16 years-old and in her first Comm Games, Small was able to come away with 11th place in the 800m event as well as becoming the fastest ever Australian junior over 800m in the process, setting a new U18 and U20 record of 2:00.81.
You will be able to catch some of our young athletes at the 2018 NSW All Schools Championships between 27-30 September at Sydney Olympic Park.
Cormac Kennedy-Leverett/Taylor McCarthy-Smith - Rowing
Our YOG Rowers Kennedy-Leverett and McCarthy-Smith recently completed a successful campaign at the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships, with Kennedy-Leverett coming away with the silver medal and McCarthy-Smith finishing in seventh place. Both Junior National Champions, we can't wait to see how they perform at YOG.
Liana Buratti
olympics.com.au
