JACKSON Anderson’s emphatic reign has continued after taking up squad swimming just two years ago.
The last time the Times reported on the Two Rocks resident in March last year, he had broken WA’s longest standing junior record with a blitzing 50m freestyle performance.
The 10-year-old has focused hard on his craft since then, this year winning 10 medals from 10 events at the WA Junior Long Course Championships in April.
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READ NOWHe topped the podium eight times from those 10 contests in an indication of his golden talent.
Jackson’s dedication has him taking two-and-half-hour round trips from home to train with St Hilda’s Swim Club in Mosman Park four times a week. The commitment stretches to six times a week in the lead-up to competition.
He has broken seven state records across multiple age groups.
The youngster is determined to follow in the strokes of his Olympic idols Kyle Chalmers and Michael Phelps. And he has the confidence to match.
“I am going to go to the Olympics,” he asserted.
“I want to go in 2024 or 2028.”
He explained his passion was fuelled by a love of the water.
“It just makes me really happy, even when we have a hard training session or it’s really cold and we have to get in the water,” he said.
“I really love it when I swim fast and get new personal bests.”
Jackson said freestyle and butterfly sprints were his strongest events.
He was recently named in the WA team for the Pacific School Games in Adelaide in December.
The versatile competitor will feature in 50m and 100m events for freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke.
A medley and two relays will round off his appearance, which he admitted would be “tiring, but so much fun”.
Jackson has been nominated in the Community Newspaper Group’s Local Sports Star awards.
To nominate visit www.localsportsstars.com.au.
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