World Ranked “Country Kids” Sienna Toohey and Henry Allan Headline 30-Strong Australian Junior Dolphins For World Junior Championships
Two world ranked 16-year-old “country kids” Sienna Toohey and Henry Allan will spearhead a 30-strong Australian Junior Dolphins Team to this year’s World Junior Aquatic Championships in Otopeni, Romania from August 19 to 24.
Toohey continued her rise up the 50 and 100m breaststroke World Rankings at the recent Australian Age Championships, with her 30.73 (11th in the 50m) and 1:07.04 (16th in the 100) and into the Australian All-time Top Ten.
Toohey, from Albury on the NSW/Victorian States borders, has re-written the Australian age records set by four-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic gold medallist Leisel Jones.
While Allan, the teenage backstroke sensation from East Bendigo in North Central Victoria, has enjoyed a record-breaking season where he has swum passed Olympians Matt Welsh and Andrew Lauterstein on his record-breaking spree – also charging into the Australian All-time top Ten with his 53.73 at the Australian Age.
Their coaches Wayne Gould (Toohey) and John Jordan (Allan) have also been rewarded, named amongst the six team coaches heading to Romania.
The pair have been engaged heavily with Swimming Australia’s pathway system, working with senior Olympic gold medal coaches Shannon Rollason and Craig Jackson.
Team head coach and National Youth Coach Simon Cusack said he was encouraged by the performances which included 15 new National Age records.
“There was a spread of medals across the clubs and increased depth in the events we have targeted at our Next Gen camps,” Cusack said.
“We had six females who went under our qualifying time for breaststroke and that shows increasing depth and return on investment … we also have some new male athletes emerge in the freestyle events.
“With the tightening up of qualifying times, I’d like to see a greater percentage of athletes qualifying for finals, and also a greater percentage of conversions, and by this I mean an improvement in their times from National Age Championships through to Junior World Championship finals.”
Two NSW 15-year-olds Christopher Montana, from Trinity Gramma, and Heidi Shumack, SOPAC are the youngest on the team while the eldest are 18-year-olds Tex Cross (Highlanders, WA), Oliver Linde (Nudgee College, QLD) and Jessica Cole Wests Illawarra (NSW) – Cole who finished third in the Australian Open 200m butterfly.
MAC ATTACK: Hayley Mackinder 2025 Aust Age Brisbane Photo Courtesy Bec Ohlwein/Swimming Australia
There are 13 athletes from Queensland, 10 from NSW, four from WA and three from Victoria – while three of the 13 Queenslanders Ainsley Trotter (Traralgon), Hayley Mackinder (Geelong) and Jack Morrow (Western Melbourne Propulsion) who made the move to Queensland – all are Victorian junior products.
For Griffith Uni‘s Mackinder, it will be her second World Junior Championship team after winning gold as a member of Australia’s 4x100m medley relay team in Israel in 2023.
Mackinder clinched her berth after winning the 17 years 50, 100 and 200m breaststroke treble – her wins in the 100m (1:07.70) and 200m (2:26.55) were both under the Swimming Australia qualifying standards.
Her coach at Griffith, 2012 Olympian, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, is one of two Queensland coaches named on the team, alongside St Andrews, Sunshine Coast, Head Coach and 2008 Olympian, Ashley Delaney, who placed backstroking ace Jack Morrow and Cash Milner on the team.
Morrow winning the 100m backstroke (54.82) and the 200m backstroke (2:00.17) – both in World Championship qualifying times.
Also amongst the eight girls on the team will be Bond’s Mikayla Bird, who won four events in Brisbane – the Girls 17 years -200 free (2:00.66); 400 free (4:15.40); 100m fly (59.73) and the 200m fly (2:11.80 in a World Championship QT) also finishing second in the 17 years 100 freestyle (56.32) and 50m butterfly (27.46).
A 1-2 CELEBRATION: Mikayla Bird and Zoe Ammundsen at the 2025 Australian Age Championships Photo Courtesy: Bec Ohlwein/Swimming Australia.
Bird also returning to international competition after winning individual gold in the 100 and 200m butterfly at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinbago.
Mackinder and Bird will be joined by All Saints (Gold Coast) 17-year-old Julia Remington who landed three World Championship qualifying times, winning the 200 (2:16.38) and 400IMs (4:48.47), finishing second to Mackinder in the Girls 200m breaststroke (2:29.24) for a deserved place on the Junior Dolphins team and just deserts for long-serving All Saints coach Ken Sabotic.
This is NSW’s strongest representation on a Junior Dolphins team in recent years, reflecting the positive momentum across the State’s performance pathways.
The 10 NSW athletes selected makes up a third of the team – an uplift from 2024 and 2023, where NSW contributed seven athletes from a team of 40 and eight athletes from a team of 30 respectively.
NSW Coaching Director Jon Shaw saying: “To have a third of the national team coming from NSW…..shows that our progression plans are working, and we can’t wait to see these young athletes take on the world stage with pride and confidence…it reflects the outstanding commitment from our athletes, the skill and dedication of our coaches, and the strength of the development pathways we’ve been investing in across New South Wales.
Australian Junior Dolphins, World Championships, Otopeni, Romania from August 19 to 24.
MALE
Henry Allan,15 (Bendigo East, VIC; Coach: John Jordan
Joshua Conias,17 (Somerville House, QLD; Coach: Tim Lane)
Ben Cotroneo,17 (Kincoppal-Rose Bay, NSW; Coach: Hamid Mobarraz)
Tex Cross,18 (Highlanders, WA; Coach: Ryan Steenkamp)
Lucas Fackerell,17 (Arena, WA; Coach: Harry Clarke)
Oliver Linde,18 (Nudgee College, QLD; Coach: Stewart Melton)
Charlie Lutton,17 (Brisbane Grammar, QLD; Coach: Bobby Jovanovich)
Cash Milner,17 (St Andrews, QLD; Coach: Ashley Delaney)
Ollie Moclai,17 (Cranbrook, NSW; Coach: Tom Sunter)
Christopher Montana,15 (Trinity Grammar, NSW; Coach: Ben Tuxford)
Jack Morrow,17 (St Andrews, QLD; Coach: Ashley Delaney)
Alexander Sillitoe17 (South Lake Dolphins, WA; Coach: Stefano Di Bernardo)
Thomas Sutherland,17 (Caulfield Grammar, VIC; Coach: Kenrick Monk)
Campbell Wilson-Moran,17 (Caulfield Grammar, VIC; Coach: Kenrick Monk)
FEMALE
Zoe Ammundsen,17 (Nudgee College, QLD; Coach: Shaun Crow)
Mikayla Bird,17 (Bond, QLD; Coach: Kyle Samuelson)
Heli Childs,15 (PLC Sydney, NSW; Coach: Brent Winkworth)
Jessica Cole,18 (Wests Illawarra, NSW; Coach: Patrick Stellino)
Olivia Hine,17 (Somerville House, QLD; Coach: Sarah Caithness)
Rafaela Kopellou,17 (SOPAC, NSW; Coach: Adam Kable)
Kira Long,16 (SOPAC, NSW; Coach: James Greathead)
Hayley Mackinder,17 (Griffith Uni, QLD; Coach: Tom Fraser – Holmes)
Alice Monaghan,17 (Griffith Uni, QLD; Coach: Tom Fraser – Holmes)
Julia Remington,17 (All Saints, QLD; Coach: Ken Sabotic)
Asha Ring,16 (SOPAC, NSW; Coach: James Greathead)
Isabel Sheldrick,17(Fenix, WA; Coach: Deb Jones)
Heidi Shumack,15 (SOPAC, NSW; Coach: James Greathead)
Amelie Smith,16 (Rocky City, QLD; Coach: Shane Kingston)
Sienna Toohey,16 (Albury, NSW; Coach: Wayne Gould)
Ainsley Trotter,17 (Bond, QLD; Coach: Chris Mooney)
Coaches
Simon Cusack (National Youth Coach)
Ashley Delaney (St Andrews, QLD)
Deb Jones (Fenix, WA)
James Greathead (SOPAC, NSW)
John Jordan (Bendigo East, VIC)
Tom Fraser-Holmes (Griffith Uni, QLD)
Wayne Gould (Albury, NSW)
Not just VIC juniors in Queensland. Two country NSW junior products now listed from Queensland also. Butterflier Cash Milner from Kincumber Pacific Dolphins, Sprint Freestyler Oliver Linde from Mittagong.