State records, personal bests and the limits of the 25-metre pool: What really happened at the 2026 WA Age & Open

The clock showed 3:32.66. On the medal podium, four male freestyle relay swimmers from Western Australia received the plaque confirming a state record, 1.53 seconds faster than the previous mark. Hours earlier, Joshua Yong touched the wall in the 50m breaststroke in 26.61, improving his own previous record of 26.82. Sam Carmignani swam the 100m individual medley in 56.46, more than one second faster than any of his previous swims. Three milestones, three stories, and all of them took place in a 25-metre pool.

This was the 2026 WA Age & Open Short Course Championships, a state-level event in Western Australia. Over three days, athletes from local clubs such as Highlanders, Hale Aquatics and Kwinana competed in individual and relay events. A 25-metre short course means twice as many turns as a 50-metre long course. Therefore, turn technique, underwater swimming and dolphin kick coordination become decisive factors. But the original article provided no data on any of these aspects.

The most notable name was Iona Anderson, a 20-year-old swimmer with an Olympic medal, Commonwealth Games experience and Pan Pacific appearances. She swam only the 100m individual medley in 1:00.66, winning the event but not breaking any record. That suggests this was a light training meet, not a peak competition. Meanwhile, Brielle Dredge dominated breaststroke: she won the 50m breaststroke in 31.04, the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.91, the 200m breaststroke in 2:26.37 and also won the 200m individual medley in 2:18.78. Four victories in one meet show endurance, but they do not yet place her at national level.

As for Joshua Yong, besides his 50m breaststroke record of 26.61, he swam the 100m breaststroke in 57.58, close to his own personal best. That is a good state-level time, but at international level these results are only reference points, not enough to shift the landscape. The current short-course world record in the men's 100m breaststroke is 55.28, about 2.3 seconds faster than Yong's time. That gap is still very large.

Sam Carmignani is the most interesting name. Improving by more than one second in the 100m individual medley is a significant step for a young swimmer. However, with a single data point, it is impossible to say whether this is an upward trajectory or just one good swim. At least one more meet is needed for confirmation. The men's 4x100m freestyle relay team also set a state record of 3:32.66. But without individual split times or exchange data, we cannot know whether the advantage came from individual speed or relay teamwork.

Based on my experience watching Australian national selection meets, I notice a common pattern: local media celebrate state records, while national selectors look at long-course times and split data. The WA Short Course Championships is not part of the Olympic, World Championship or Pan Pacific qualification system. It is more like a mid-season test than a basis for judging the future. Short-course results cannot be directly converted to long-course performances because the number of turns differs, underwater time differs and pacing strategy differs. A swimmer can be excellent in a 25m pool thanks to turn technique, yet lack the endurance required in a 50m pool.

No metric in the original report provided splits, stroke rate or distance per stroke. There was no reaction-time data, no turn-time data. Only final times were available. For an analyst, that is like reading a match result without watching the video: you know who won, but not why. Numbers are silent, but their sequence always knows how to tell a story; here, that sequence was not recorded. The body is a closed system, but data is the key that opens it. When data is missing, every conclusion is only a hypothesis.

More importantly, we should avoid overrating short-course results. A WA All-Comers & Residential Record in the 50m breaststroke, however proud, does not mean Joshua Yong will challenge for medals at the World Short Course Championships. A strong domestic performance by Brielle Dredge is not enough to put her on the national team. Even Iona Anderson, who already has an Olympic medal, used this meet to check her form. Her 100m individual medley time of 1:00.66 is not internationally competitive, and she may be saving her energy for her main backstroke events.

Every fall has a graph, every graph has a breaking point. At this meet, the graph has only one point. That point is not bad, but it is not enough to draw a line. If Sam Carmignani improves again at the next state meet, he will become a prospect worth following. If Joshua Yong moves to the long-course season and breaks the 1:00 mark in the 100m breaststroke, he will move closer to national selection. As for Brielle Dredge, she needs to enter the national championships before we can assess her progression rate.

Overall, the 2026 WA Age & Open was a clean meet with records and individual breakthroughs, but it does not change the world swimming map. This is good news for Western Australian swimming, but not a landmark story. What matters lies ahead: what these swimmers do when they step up to the long course, where every short-course record must be retested with real endurance and strategy. At Lach Tray, I learned to read injuries from the first numbers; at this WA meet, I learned another lesson: a state record is just one point on the graph.