NSW Championships, Night 2: Absence Makes The Arms Go Faster for Tara Kinder Who Drops A 200m Breaststroke Rankings Buster Of 2:23.84
Melbourne University student Tara Kinder quit swimming two years ago, the former Victorian Age group star spending 14 months away from the sport.
And by her own admission, that hiatus was just the catalyst she needed to re-ignite her swimming career.
Last night in Sydney the now 21-year took just 2 minutes 23.84 seconds to rocket up the 2025 World Rankings in the 200m breaststroke on night two of the NSW Championships – becoming the eighth fastest Australian ever in a time that would have seen her in the Olympic final in Paris.
An Australian rankings list that still sees her one-time childhood idol Leisel Jones, remain the fastest Australian ever with her 2:20.54, swum back in 2006.
Kinder (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) had shown on night one with personal bests in the 400IM (4:42.59) and the 100m breaststroke (1:07.42) that something special was brewing and it sure was – with Kinder out in 33.18, back in 36.93 for a 100m split of 1:10.11.
BACK IN FAST LANE: Australian Dolphin Tara Kinder (Melbourne Vicente) Photo Courtesy Swimming Australia.
But it was the second 100m that had all the ingredients of a great swim – coming home in 1:13.73 (37.07 and a final 50m split of 36.66) dishing up a stunning pb – three seconds faster than her entry time.
And you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she embraced second-placed Sienna Toohey (Albury, NSW) who she had out-touched in the 100m the night before with both girls looking the goods with sub 1:08 swims – 1:07.42 and 1:07.56 respectively.
Toohey, who won the 50m breaststroke in 31.06 earlier in the night, hung on for second in 2:29.48 with Hayley Mackinder (Griffith University Swim Club, QLD) third in 2:31.88
Kinder had left the sport thinking she was done…only to fall back in love with swimming 14 months later.
She returned in April 2023 and a second Olympic Trials beckoned, only to see illness hinder any hope she had of a 2024 Paris dream.
Posting on Instagram that: “Twelve months ago when I came back to swimming, I knew failures would inevitably come my way and that’s okay! A drop in the ocean, if you will; I’ve got my second Olympic trials in my back pocket now, so we reset, and focus on what’s next.”
And next was the 2024 Australian Short Course championships where she sealed a place on her first Dolphins senior team to the World Short Course Championships in Hungary with four stunning wins in the 100 and 200m breaststroke and 200 and 400IM doubles.
Kinder saying at the time: “I thought I was done and now I am doing more than what I thought I was capable of and it’s given me some confidence.
“I can’t thank my coach Craig Jackson enough for giving me the space to find myself again … I chased that Dolphin number for a while, and I am just so proud to make my debut.
“And to be in the same race as (USA’s) Kate Douglass at the World Cups and to see her smash two world records was surreal.
“She is the world’s best and to look up with 10 metres to go and see fireworks going off for her world record was insane.
“It’s fired me up … I want to do what she’s doing.”
And tonight the only swimmer ahead of the Deakin University Psychology student in those 2025 World Rankings is Douglass herself with her recent time of 2:22.60 swum at the recent TYR Series Meet.
And if Tara can continue reaching into her recipe book for next month’s Australian Championships and the World Championship Trials in June, the two may well be cooking up a storm in Singapore in July
Meanwhile Olympic backstroking queen Kaylee McKeown, fresh from her world ranked number one time of 2:04.57 in the 200m backstroke on night one, was like a shot out of a gun again, just off world record pace down the first 50m before clocking the fastest 100m backstroke time of 2025, with her 57.73.
Her Paris team mate Alex Perkins (USC Spartans, QLD), the butterfly heir to Emma McKeon’s vacant throne, added the 100m butterfly in an impressive 57.32 – pushed all the way by visiting Swedish international Louise Hansson (57.56) with Isabella Boyd (Trinity, NSW) clocking 58.37 for third.
The men’s events saw Cranbrook Aquatics (NSW) former National Age star Marcus Da Silva, bulldog his way to the finish line in the 200m freestyle in 1:49.62, ahead of ahead of Gabriel Gorgas (Manly, NSW) 1:49.76 and Zachary Tabuai (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:50.80.
Gorgas hade to play third fiddle later in the night, with US-based Victorian David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 2:01.73 winning the 200IM from two-time Olympian Se-Bom Lee (SOPAC, NSW) 2:02.34, with Gorgas (Manly, NSW) third in 2:02.35.
And in the race of the night, Victorian Tommy Lane (Cheltenham, VIC) 8:08.09 out-touched 400m winner Lachlan Walker (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 8:08.11 by just two-one-hundredths of a second (0.02) in a thrilling 800m freestyle with Luke Higgs (Warringah, NSW) third in 8:11.96.
Two seconds adrift with 100m to swim and Lane pulled off his two fastest 50s of the race, clocking 31.11 for lap 15 and 28.17 to Walker’s 29.13 in a ripping final fling to snatch the win.
RESULTS
2025 NSW State Swimming Championships, Nights One and Two, FINALS:
MEN
Freestyle:
100m:
- Will Yang (Sydney University, NSW) 48.93
- Marcus Da Silva (Cranbrook, NSW) 49.49
- Thomas Nowakowski (USC Spartans, QLD) 49.73
200m:
- Marcus Da Silva (Cranbrook, NSW) 1:49.62
- Gabriel Gorgas (Manly, NSW) 1:4976
- Zachary Tabuai (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:50.80
400m:
- Lachlan Walker (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 3:54.18
- Matthew Galea (Sydney Olympic Swim Club, NSW) 3:54.58
- Tommy Lane (Cheltenham, VIC) 3:56.28
800m:
- Tommy Lane (Cheltenham, VIC) 8:08.09
- Lachlan Walker (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 8:08.11
- Luke Higgs (Warringah, NSW) 8:11.96
Butterfly:
50m:
- Matt Temple (Marion, SA) 23.92
- Alex Quach (SOPAC, NSW) 24.13
- Joseph Hamson (Knox Pymble, NSW) 24.43
200m:
- Caleb Dryer (Carlile, NSW) 2:02.47
- Daniel Boshart (Highlanders, WA) 2:02.90
- Joseph Hamson (Knox Pymble, NSW) 2:03.97
Backstroke:
50m:
- Henry Allan (Bendigo East, VIC) 25.00
- Zac Incerti (USC Spartans, QLD) 25.64
- Bradley Woodward (Mingara, NSW) 25.91
200m:
- Josh Edwards-Smith (Griffith University, QLD) 1:58.86
- Stuart Swinburn (City of Sydney, NSW) 1:59.03
- Enoch Robb (Griffith, QLD) 2:00.08
Breaststroke:
50m:
- Sam Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 26.82
- Lukas Matzerath (Germany) 27.10
- Nash Wilkes (Griffith University, QLD) 27.92
100m:
- Lukas Matzerath (Germany) 1:00.07
- Sam Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 1:00.89
- Nash Wilkes (Griffith University, QLD) 1:01.42
200m:
- Lukas Matzerath (Germany) 2:13.42
- Harrison Biddell (Marion, SA) 2:17.49
- Callum Thomas (The Hills, NSW) 2:19.63
Individual Medley
200m:
- David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 2:01.73
- Se-Bom Lee (SOPAC, NSW) 2:02.34
- Gabriel Gorgas (Manly, NSW) 2:02.35
Multi-Class
Freestyle:
50m:
- Nicholas Layton (Caulfield Aquatics, VIC) 23.91
- Rowan Crothers (Marion, SA) 23.96
- Alexander Tuckfield (Aquablitz, Toongabbie, NSW) 24.70
200m:
- Jack Ireland (University of QLD) 1:57.41
- Declan Budd (Knox Pymble, NSW) 1:57.87
- Darren Sisman (SLC Aquadot, NSW) 1:59.43
400m:
- Darren Sisman (SLC Aquadot, NSW) 4:12.94
- Timothy Hodge (Blacktown, NSW) 4:19.21
- William Martin (USC Spartans, QLD) 4:36.61
Butterfly
100m:
- Timothy Hodge (Blacktown, NSW) 1:00.48
- Declan Budd (Knox Pymble, NSW) 58.23
- Col Pearse (Nunawading, VIC) 59.44
WOMEN
Freestyle:
100m:
- Brittany Castelluzzo (Tea Tree Gully, SA) 54.68
- Alex Perkins (USC Spartans, QLD) 54.66
- Jaimie De Lutiis (Wests Illawarra, NSW) 55.10
400m freestyle:
- Molly Walker (Southern Performance, VIC) 4:15.13
- Dominique Melbourn (St Peters Western, QLD) 4:18.31
- Rafaela Kopellou (SOPAC, NSW) 4:128.90
800m:
- Molly Walker (Southern Performance, VIC) 8:44.46
- Brittany Castelluzzo (Tea Tree Gully, VIC) 8:55.41
- Tayla Martin (Carlile, NSW) 8:59.68
Butterfly:
50m:
- Alex Perkins (USC Spartans, QLD) 25.72
- Louise Hansson (Sweden) 26.16
- Mackenzie Burns (St Andrews, QLD) 26.54
100m:
- Alex Perkins (USC Spartans, QLD) 57.32
- Louise Hansson (Sweden) 57.56
- Isabella Boyd (Trinity, NSW) 58.37
Backstroke:
100m:
- Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) 57.73
- Bella Grant (Trinity, NSW) 1:00.66
- Louise Hansson (Sweden) 1:02.07
200m:
- Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) 2:04.57
- Alannah Banks (Surrey Park, VIC) 2:15.41
- Abbey Kearney (Nunawading, VIC) 2:17.29
Breaststroke:
50m:
- Sienna Toohey (Albury, NSW) 31.06
- Mia O’Leary (Griffith University, QLD) 31.32
- Isabelle Rae (Albury, NSW) 31.83
100m:
- Tara Kinder (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 1:07.42
- Sienna Toohey (Albury, NSW) 1:07.56
- Hayley Mackinder (Griffith University Swim Club, QLD) 1:09.30
200m:
- Tara Kinder (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 2:23.84
- Sienna Toohey (Albury, NSW) 2:29.48
- Hayley Mackinder (Griffith University Swim Club, QLD) 2:31.88
Individual medley:
400m:
- Tara Kinder (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 4:42.59
- Kayla Hardy (Cruiz, ACT) 4:46.35
- Rafaela Kopellou (SOPAC) 4:52.63
MULTI-CLASS
Freestyle
50m:
- Alexa Leary (Bond, QLD) 27.62
- Mia Hogan (Albury, NSW) 29.04
- Emily Beecroft (USC Spartans, QLD) 29.26
200m:
- Madeleine McTerrnan (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 2:15.27
- Jade Lucy (SLC Aquadot, NSW) 2:18.13
- Lakeisha Patterson (USC Spartans, QLD) 2:20.74
400m:
- Lakeisha Patterson (USC Spartans, QLD) 4:51.79
- Hannah Price (Campbelltown, NSW) 4:51.79
- Chloe Osborn (Blacktown, NSW) 5:23.37
Butterfly:
100m:
- Kael Thompson (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:08.15
- Jasmine Greenwood (Woden Valley, ACT) 1:08.03
- Emily Beecroft (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:10.84
