For Alex Johnson it marked his debut on the national stage, the culmination of a fantastic season for the 13-year-old. The 100m backstroke was Alex’s first race in an Olympic standard pool and despite being understandably nervous he clocked 1.18.99, just outside his previous best.

The next day his attentions turned to the 100m butterfly. In a controlled swim he was two seconds ahead of his best at the halfway mark, before storming home, taking third in his heat and moving up seven places in the rankings in the process. His time of 1.15.78 was 2.5 seconds faster than his previous best.

At the top end of the age groups, 19 year old Stephen MacFarlane returned to national competition in the 50m breaststroke. In an event where everything has to be perfect for a personal best, Stephen again showed what potential he has over the shorter distance with a time of 33.34.

After a frustrating year of hard training with little improvement in times, Kate Storey swam in five events in the 16 years age group.

The week started slowly in the heats of the 100m freestyle but Kate did enough to make the evening final.

From an outside lane, Kate controlled her first 50m before driving for the finish, cutting 0.48s from her best to finish eighth overall. In the 50m freestyle Kate made a second final, coming fifth in 28.37 from a seeding of 14th.

With two personal best times in the bag the 200m freestyle was a disappointment clocking 2:17.03 and a reserve spot in the final, the same result as in the 50m breaststroke though this saw a 0.55s improvement.

On the last of six days of competition in the Granite City, a solid personal best in the 100m breaststroke booked a final slot in seventh place where Kate raised her game to break her previous best, clocking 1.19.63, 2.27s faster than her entry and moving her from 17th seed to sixth.