By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 AUSTRALIAN OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday, January 22nd – Sunday, January 25th Koombana Bay, Western Australia OW SwimSwam Preview Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap Meet Central Live ResultsThe final day of action at the 2026 Australian Open Water Championships wasn’t without drama, as wind gusts of up to 30km/hr resulted in a ‘runaway’ buoy forcing a restart of the men’s 5k event just one lap into the race.
Kyle Lee ultimately hit the timepad first, with the 5k victory representing the 23-year-old’s third gold of the competition after having topped the 10k and mixed 4×1.5km podiums.
Five-time World Championships medalist Sam Short earned the silver after winning the 3k knockout sprints and Thomas Raymond collected the bronze.
Olympic medalist Moesha Johnson was too quick to catch in the women’s 5k, adding the victory to her previous golds in the 10k and 3k knockout sprints.
Japan’s Sachiko Kajimoto secured silver and fellow Aussie Tayla Martin earned the bronze medal in the race.
For Lee and Johnson, their 10km efforts resulted in an $8000 winner’s check and funding for qualification races in Spain and Italy for the Pan Pacific Championships to be held in California in August.
Reflecting on his performance, Lee told Swimming Australia, “It was a bit confusing when it first happened (the abandonment). No one really knew why the race was being stopped but I think that’s the thing with open water, you soon learn to be adaptable and it’s such an important skill in the race, so I guess applying it to outside the race, making sure I didn’t get too stressed or worried about anything, just mentally resetting for the next race was so important.
“As a swimmer (a shark sighting) is your first thought when they abandon the race. But they soon told us the reason was (that) a buoy moved, so that definitely took the stress away.
“I think that’s the first race (that I’ve been in) that’s been abandoned. I thought Swimming Australia did a good job to try and reassure us what the next stage was going to be and helped us swimmers get ready to compete.
“It’s just about resetting and putting everything that happened behind you. It’s a new race and it doesn’t matter where you were before. It’s about setting yourself up as good as you can again and that’s just what I tried to do and I thought I executed it really well.
“With two laps to go, I try to move up but Sam’s (Short) so quick he didn’t want to give us a sniff of it. (There were) many times I tried to put in a surge to try and get next to him but the speed he has made it so difficult.
“I was only able to get up next to him on that last straight and then Tommy (Raymond) came up on the other side of me. It’s always a bit nerve wracking when you have someone either side of you but I try to just control what I could and focus on getting that touch.
“We’ve got the World Cup coming up soon, so that’s going to be the next important one (and) trying to qualify for the Australian team.
“I think it’s been so good having Sam (Short) in there. It made the race a lot tougher today and I think the more pool swimmers we get in (open water) the better. It just increases the depth that Australia has … internationally we’re getting some good results, so hopefully that continues.”
For her part, Johnson said, “There was a strong Japanese girl behind me that really kept me on my toes the whole way and didn’t let me relax. So, I think that was great for me and great to practice to have the pressure behind me.
“Also (it was) great to have some crazy conditions to race in to practice experiencing that … having the added challenge of the elements and conditions it makes our sport so interesting.
“My goal this year is to participate in all the World Cup stops … (I’m) also chasing some pool swimming in between all that and finishing off with Pan Pacs which is an LA preparation for us.
When asked if the rise of interest from pool swimmers is a compliment to the sport of open water swimming she said, “I think it really brings a lot of appreciation for what we’re doing in our sport. We’ve got Sam Short here today and we had Tiana (Kritzinger) at the start of the week … it brings a lot of camaraderie across the pool and open water (teams).
“For me personally, from this championship, I know that I’m fit and that I’m in good shape but I want to go away and work on some things mentally a little bit like sharpen up my mind for the next races, sharpen up a few tactical things.
“I really chose to push every single race and put myself under a lot of fatigue and I did that, so I was quite tired today but that’s the goal. (I will) go home, train and back it up in and out, maybe go back and have a look at my training plan so that’s all aligned to make sure I can back up for World Cups.
When asked how important it was to start her 2026 season in Australia,”I was doing some training in Europe and came back (to Australia) just for this. Every year I’ve started the year in January with the Australian (open water) nationals. Sometimes it’s hard mentally to get through the training in Christmas, everyone is having holidays and we’re training really hard but this is just the best way to set up the year. Australian summer. Nationals. Get some good hit outs. And explore our backyard.”
DAY 4 FULL RESULTS
Women’s 5km
1. Moesha Johnson, 58:43.60 (Miami); 2. Sachika Kajimoto, 58:49.70 (Japan); 3. Tayla Martin, 1:00:39.50 (Carlile); 4. Sienna Deurloo, 1:00.41.00 (Toowoomba Grammar)
Men’s 5km 1. Kyle Lee, 56:49.00 (North Coast); 2. Sam Short, 56:50.30 (Rackley); 3. Thomas Raymond, 56:50.40 (Kawana Waters); 4. Euan Liney, 57:14.60, (Knox Pymble)
Women’s 5km multi class 1. Amie Holwill, 1:07:32.70 (Bunbury); 2. Ikuh Nakahigashi, 1:11:00.60 (Japan); 3. Amelia Steiner, 1:21:03.70 (St Andrew’s); 4. Maddison Hinds, 1:23:45.10 (Hornsby)
Men’s 5km multi class 1. Daniel Rigby S9, 1:14:05.10 (Knox Pymble), 2. Ky Milllican S19, 1:16:10.60 (Goodlife); 3. Ben Morrison S14, 1:16:27.20 (Miami)
Girls’ 19 years 5km 1. Bianca Monaco, 1:01:03.90 (North Coast); 2. Macy Beuzeville, 1:02:28.20 (St Peters Western); Chloe Broderick, 1:04:41.70 (Carlile); 4. Ivy Gerstner, 1:06:43.80 (Campbelltown)
Boys’ 19 years 5km 1. Daniel Carter, 1:00:16.30 (The Hills); 2. Thomas Dreverman, 1:00:20.60 (Westside Christ Church); 3. Samuel Zollner, 1:00:44.00 (Westside Christ Church); 4. Nathan Williams, 1:01:44.00 (Campbelltown)
Girls’ 18 years 5km 1. Eleanor Flowers, 1:01:11.50 (North Coast); 2. Amelie Smith, 1:02:24.60 (Rocky City); 3. Charlotte Bowmer, 1:02:35.50 (SLC Aquadot); 4. Holly Fleming, 1:04:08.70 (Chandler)
Boys’ 18 years 5km 1. Aidan Mills, 1:00:28.00 (North Coast); 2. Hayden Headling, 1:00:30.50 (North Coast); 3. Cody Robinson, 1:01:25.20 (Albany); 4. Jurgens Wilson, 1:01:29.10 (Westside Christ Church)
Girls’ 17 years 5km 1. Isobel Mulchay, 1:03:09.60 (Carlile); 2. Allegra Anderson, 1:03:09.90 (Griffith University); 3. Piper Cameron, 1:05:37.20 (Norwood); 4. Madison Brand, 1:05:48.20 (Nunawading)
Boys’ 17 years 5km 1. Riley Meares, 59:24.40 (St Peters Western); 2. Ashton Rodgers, 1:01:39.70 (Rocky City); 3. Bodi Bone, 1:03:10.30 (Gosford Stingrays); 4. Julian Falzon, 1:03:28.80 (Nepean)
Girls’ 16 years 5km 1. Saffron Favios, 1:06:04.10 (Albany); 2. Lara Green, 1:06:04.70 (North Coast); 3. Sutton Miller, 1:07:10.80 (Unley); 4. Lua Wilson, 1:08:27.80 (Westside Christ Church)
Boys’ 16 years 5km 1. William Thorpe, 59:28.30 (St Peters Western); 2. Jordan Tucker, 1:01:40.90 (Marion); 3. Thomas Valassis, 1:03:05.00 (Revesby Workers); 4. Finn Kelly, 1:03:05.00 (Nepean)
Club Point Score 1. North Coast, 413; 2. Carlile, 320; 3. St Peters Western, 262; 4. Westside Christ Church, 200
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