Swimming Otago hosted the 2024 South Island Long Course Championships from 1-3 March at Moana Pool in Dunedin. It was the biggest edition of the championships to date, with almost 250 athletes in attendance. It was a fantastic three days of racing, with a hat-trick of New Zealand records set by para athletes being the biggest highlight of the championships. Congratulations to Luka Willems and Charlote Murphy (both of Canterbury West Coast) on their New Zealand records.

61 Otago athletes participated in the championships, with our athletes taking home 78 medals including eleven overall South Island Champion titles out of the 32 events on offer.

It was particularly great to have five 12-year-olds from Otago take advantage of the opportunity to race against older swimmers and compete at these championships. Many of these young swimmers set personal best times, made finals, and even landed on the podium - an outstanding effort when racing against swimmers up to two years their senior.

Three Otago records were broken over the course of the championships. Congratulations to Neo, Poppy, and Alfie on your new records!

Day two of the championships saw Neo Salomonsson (Kiwi) take down the Male 15 Years 50m Butterfly record in a stunning time of 26.49. The effort saw Salomonsson scrape more than three tenths of a second off the previous record.

On the same day, Poppy Henderson (Neptune) smashed the Female 18 Years 50m Butterfly record, taking eight tenths of a second off the previous record with a time of 28.43.

The final day of racing at the championships saw Alfie Weatherston Harvey (Kiwi) take down the Male 16 Years 800m Freestyle record on his way to securing the overall South Island Champion title with a time of 8:47.95, breaking the previous record by just over two seconds.

Swimming Otago would like to extend a huge thank you to all those who contributed to making this event possible. From the meticulous organisation of Kerren, Swimming Otago Events and Development Coordinator, to the dedicated officials on pool deck and in the office, and all the volunteers who served as timekeepers or in other capacities. Thank you all for your invaluable contributions - meets like this are not possible without your help!

Looking for photos from the weekend of racing? 1000+ photos are live on our Facebook page. Click here to check them out!

Congratulations to all those who took part in this competition. We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you poolside again soon!

South Island Overall Champions

South Island Championship Medallists

Article added: Friday 8 March 2024