FORMER Inverloch Primary and Newhaven College student Bowen Gough recently won his third Australian National 200 metre butterfly title.
The Australian Championships were held at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre from April 17 to 20.
Bowen from Bass, who started his competitive swimming journey with the local South Gippsland Bass Swimming Club as a seven-year-old, now trains with the elite High Performance Griffith University squad on the Gold Coast alongside World and Olympic Champions Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Lani Pallister, Brendon Smith, and pop star/ swimmer Cody Simpson.
The squad is coached by renowned Australian coaches Michael Bohl and Janelle Pallister.
Bowen has previously represented Australia on Australian Junior and University teams before becoming an Australian Dolphin Swimmer representing Australia at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where he finished fourth.
In the 200 Butterfly final at the Australian Open Championships, Bowen and 100 metre butterfly specialist Australian Dolphin swimmer Matthew Temple were out in front of the rest of the field fighting it out to the last stroke with Bowen getting his hands on the wall first to claim the National Title.
Bowen is now back in hard training for the Olympic trials in June where he will not only have to finish first or second to qualify for the Olympic team, but also swim under the fastest qualifying time of any country in the world for the men’s 200 Butterfly 1.54.97.
Only one other Australian male has ever broken the 1.55 time so it is going to require an extraordinary swim.
Bowen is currently the fifth fastest 200 Butterfly swimmer in the history of Australian swimming – a significant achievement for a country kid with a big dream to represent his country in the sport he loved who grew up in a town that doesn’t even have access to a 50 metre pool.
