Thomas Magill is 15 years old and is showing strong potential for a future representing New Zealand in swimming. Photo / John Borren
Teen swimmer Thomas Magill has been breaking records in the pool - records he set.
The 15-year-old has been swimming since he was 5 and started competitive swimming when he was 11. He recently competed in the 2024 Apollo Projects NZ Short Course Swimming Championships in Auckland where he broke two New Zealand freestyle records.
“My favourite style is freestyle. It was the only style I was good at,” he said.
“I love butterfly and breaststroke’s pretty good, but I’m not too good at backstroke.”
Thomas felt good about his results from the short course championships.
“I got the S19 Short Course national record for 800m freestyle, and I also got the S19 Short Course under-16 national record for the 400m freestyle, and I also came second overall in the 800m freestyle.”
These records were set by Thomas when he was 14 - and in breaking them again he had achieved a personal best.
He said it was good to see improvement year-on-year.
“A lot of hard work has paid off.
“I got some pretty good PBs [personal bests] that I didn’t know I had in me, but I can definitely improve on it and that’s why I made a goal for next year to be even faster.”
Thomas said his friends at the Pāpāmoa Swimming Club helped get him there and he was grateful for their support.
“They’re always encouraging me. We always push each other to do our best.
“I think that the club has a big part to play in motivating the kids.”
Thomas’s father, Tom, said his son originally got into swimming to help improve his “initial passion” for water polo. He also volunteered as a lifeguard at the Pāpāmoa Surf Life-Saving Club.
Thomas said he still played water polo. He was in Aquinas College’s premier boys’ team and also played for the Tauranga boys under-16 team this year.
“I’ve played water polo since I was in year six and I have always loved it.”
When asked what he sees for himself in the future, Thomas said he wanted to represent New Zealand.
Becoming a professional swimmer and representing the country has been on his mind since the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
“I have always wanted to represent New Zealand on an international scale.”
Thomas’ mother Kate Magill said Pāpāmoa Amateur Swimming Club was run by volunteers passionate about providing a swimming club for Pāpāmoa.
The club, based in the Pāpāmoa School pool, offered a variety of swimming options from beginner lessons to competitive swimming and fitness training, she said.
“The club has about 100 squad swimmers, more than 40 of whom swim competitively and many more that compete in other aquatic sports such as water polo and surf lifesaving.
“The club has a further 70-plus swimmers in the pre-squad programmes and up to 100 swimmers in the learn to swim programme in the summer months.”
- SunLive
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