{"id":640797,"date":"2026-03-30T13:33:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=640797"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:12:14","slug":"bailey-armstrongs-life-long-dream-comes-true-with-aussies-surf-race-triumph-on-the-gold-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/bailey-armstrongs-life-long-dream-comes-true-with-aussies-surf-race-triumph-on-the-gold-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Bailey Armstrong\u2019s Lifelong Dream Comes True with Aussies Surf Race Triumph on Gold Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Bailey Armstrong\u2019s Life Long Dream Comes True With Aussies Surf Race Triumph On The Gold Coast<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four-time Australian world championship open water swimmer Bailey Armstrong has achieved a lifelong dream to win the coveted open surf race title at the 2026 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships \u201cThe Aussies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armstrong, who now has his sights set on the LA28 Olympics, was among 7,500 competitors from 350 surf clubs who converged onto the famous stretch of beach at North Kirra on Queensland\u2019s southern Gold Coast for the iconic nine-day Australian institution last week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He had been described as the best swimmer never to have won the coveted Aussie surf race crown \u2013 a race that had been won by a who\u2019s who of some of Australia\u2019s most accomplished surf and open water swimmers and Olympians.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_640800\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-640800\" data-attachment-id=\"640800\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/bailey-armstrongs-life-long-dream-comes-true-with-aussies-surf-race-triumph-on-the-gold-coast\/aussies-26-bailey-armstrong-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AUSSIES-26.-BAILEY-ARMSTRONG-2.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1066\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"AUSSIES 26. BAILEY ARMSTRONG 2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;JOINS A LONG LIST: Bailey Armstrong has the monkey off hid back. Photo Courtesy: John Veage (Harvpix)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AUSSIES-26.-BAILEY-ARMSTRONG-2-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AUSSIES-26.-BAILEY-ARMSTRONG-2-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-640800\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AUSSIES-26.-BAILEY-ARMSTRONG-2-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-640800\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">JOINS A LONG LIST: Bailey Armstrong has the monkey off hid back. Photo Courtesy: John Veage (SLS-Australia)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he has now joined a list led by retired two-time open water Olympian and champion ironman Ky Hurst \u2013 a 10-time winner of the race \u2013 and arguably Australia\u2019s greatest waterman.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And with six-time winner and Armstrong\u2019s best mate Nick Sloman out of the 2026 race with injury, it was Bailey\u2019s time to shine.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2026 Armstrong was primed to finally get the monkey off his back \u2013 it was his time to shine and to do his late father proud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armstrong led from start to finish over a tricky North Kirra course to take out an emotional win, turning on the after burners on the swim back to shore, holding off emerging stars \u2013 Henry Simpson from Alexandra Headland and Currumbin\u2019s ever-present Brennan brothers, Callum, who snared bronze, with younger brother Riley, fourth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 27-year-old from the champion Northcliffe Surf Club, realising a magical moment in a career that has seen him struggle to survive financially and at times emotionally after narrowly missing the 2021 and 2024 Olympic teams.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bailey dedicating an emotional win to his late father, a hero, mentor and best mate, who passed away last August with cancer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year, I lost my dad (last August) and we always did this (The Aussies) together so I was happy to get the win,\u201d said Bailey, declaring his father had shown him what strength, kindness and selfishness really meant:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever truly fill the shoes of the man he was, but I\u2019ll spend my life trying to follow his example and hope I can do him proud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI come from (a) surf (background), I love the waves\u2026 it\u2019s just the running I don\u2019t like and there was plenty of it there. I took the race out easy and then built through the race.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was watching with my dad in hospital this time last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armstrong is also a member of the Queensland Academy of Sport\u2019s <em>Dream Twice <\/em>program, helping prospective Olympians get a balanced sport\/work lifestyle Bailey\u2019s journey to the Olympics hasn\u2019t always been golden, with financial hurdles crippling his passion for the sport and narrowly missing out on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The program partners with Queensland businesses to offer flexible, paid employment to QAS-supported athletes, allowing them to balance professional development with their sporting commitments. Through the program, Bailey has secured a role with Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ), where his competitive mindset and resilience has brought fresh perspectives to the organisation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.qasport.qld.gov.au\/inside-qas\/news\/bailey-armstrong-is-making-waves-toward-olympic-glory-with-dream-twice#:~:text=Bailey%20Armstrong%20is%20making%20waves,Twice%20%7C%20Queensland%20Academy%20of%20Sport\">Dream Twice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bailey Armstrong\u2019s Life Long Dream Comes True With Aussies Surf Race Triumph On The Gold Coast Four-time Australian world championship open water swimmer Bailey Armstrong has achieved a lifelong dream<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7938,"featured_media":640798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122075,10],"tags":[65846,137662,137661,137660,65853,137663],"class_list":["post-640797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-oceania","category-world","tag-bailey-armstrong","tag-callum-brennan","tag-henry-simpson","tag-ky-hurdt","tag-nick-sloman","tag-riley-brennan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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