BSSC student, Cameron Jordan, has just returned from Budapest where he represented Australia and is now ranked 15th in the world in his age group for the 50-metre breaststroke.

It places Cameron in second place in Australian history for his age over this distance—the first place goes to a young man only 0.2 of a second faster.

Overall, the tour was a tremendous experience as Cameron was exposed to international travel, unfamiliar food, meeting other swimmers from all over the world, and the inevitable formalities of international competition.

“We spent some time at the AIS in Canberra before we went,” Cameron said. “It was very competitive and quite serious, but once we got to the training camp in Slovakia it was about learning how to adjust to new settings without letting it disturb our performance.”

In Slovakia Cameron stuck to his usual training schedule—nine sessions per week swimming 3km at each session.

While there was little opportunity for sightseeing, the two hours to Budapest by bus gave some great views of the Eastern European landscape… amidst the singing and fun.

Cameron competed in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events.

He made the 50m semi-finals and achieved a PB (personal best) in that race—which gave him his international ranking of 15th.

Cameron came away from the titles having earnt 24th place in the 100m and 35th in the 200m.

As he reflects on the whole experience he is very positive—and grateful.

“I do want to publically thank my local coach, Chris Geyer and the entire Aussie support team who did so much to ensure we performed at our very best,” Cameron said.

“I hadn’t realised how great the Aussie team culture was until this trip. It was my first time overseas and while Australia is not the biggest team, we were the loudest and cheered the most. It was really awesome.”

Back home, Cameron is planning to step his training up a level to try and get faster—and improve his wall work and starts. He’s also been awarded a scholarship at the Victorian Institute of Sport which will begin in October.

“The next-big-thing is the national trials for Tokyo Olympics,” he said. “I’m not expecting to qualify, but to see how far off the best times I am.”

Best of luck Cameron!

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