2026 WA Age & Open Short Course Championships: State Records and Impressive Performances

The 2026 WA Age & Open Short Course Championships concluded at the 25m pool with several notable highlights. The state-level event in Western Australia brought together top athletes such as Olympic medalist Iona Anderson (backstroke specialist), Joshua Yong (WA breaststroke record holder), and rising talents Sam Carmignani and Brielle Dredge. Although not an international selection meet, the championships produced impressive state-level results. The first highlight was a new record in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. The WA relay team touched the wall in 3:32.66, beating the previous record by 1.53 seconds. This outstanding team achievement demonstrated smooth coordination among the swimmers, though no split data is available. Joshua Yong continued to dominate the men's breaststroke events in Western Australia. He won all three distances: 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke. Notably, in the 50m breaststroke, Yong set a new All-Comers & Residential Record of 26.61 seconds, improving his own record of 26.82 by 0.21 seconds. His 100m breaststroke time of 57.58 was very close to his personal best. His consistency across all three distances suggests good endurance, but his long-course (50m) performance needs to be verified to assess his international competitiveness. Sam Carmignani impressed with a strong personal best. In the 100m individual medley, he swam 56.46 seconds, improving his previous best by over 1 second – a significant jump for a young swimmer. However, this is only one meet; follow-up competitions are needed to determine whether this is a genuine breakthrough or a one-off performance. Brielle Dredge shone in the women's breaststroke events, winning all three distances: 50m (31.04), 100m (1:07.91), and 200m (2:26.37), plus the 200m individual medley (2:18.78). She demonstrated good endurance across middle distances, but her times remain far from international standards (world record in 100m breaststroke short course is ~1:02.5). Iona Anderson, primarily a backstroke specialist, also competed in the 100m individual medley and won with a time of 1:00.66. As an Olympic medalist, she is likely using this meet as a training check rather than a peak performance. Overall, the WA state championships are a domestic event with no impact on global rankings. The new records reflect the development of local swimming, particularly in men's breaststroke with Joshua Yong. However, to translate these results into long-course success (the standard for Olympics and World Championships), athletes need more national and international competitions. Experts caution against overinterpreting short-course results, as more turns lead to faster times but are not directly transferable to long-course. Positive signals like Carmignani's PB need confirmation in subsequent meets before being considered a real breakthrough.