Emma Pritchard
Andrea Thomson is having a splashing good time in the pool.
One of the Clarence Valley’s most talented athletes, the 15-year-old is quickly accumulating an outstanding number of accolades in the water this year and is already making her presence felt on the stopwatch.
Recently, the teenage sensation nicknamed Torpedo competed in the Combined Grafton and South Grafton High Schools Swimming Carnival in Maclean, racing in eleven events, and breaking nine records in the 400m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley (IM), 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, and 50m backstroke, while setting three new personal best times along the way.
Her incredible efforts were repeated in the School Zone Carnival in Coffs Harbour last week where she won six events to qualify for the Regional Final to be held in Casino on March 19.
Describing herself as very proud of her recent achievements, Andrea said she was determined to give it her all and attain the best results she could.
With her sights set on one day representing Australia at the Olympics, Andrea told the Clarence Valley Independent she is focusing on increasing her overall stamina while aiming to complete upwards of 35km per week in the pool across eight or nine training sessions.
Currently training at the South Grafton Indoor Pool under esteemed local coach Al Paterson, Andrea is relishing every opportunity to dive into the pool and is incorporating her swimming with dry land exercises and workouts to benefit her strength in the water.
“You always have to push yourself, even if it is really hard and you feel like you can’t do it, you have to keep going until you can make the times and distances you want to achieve,” Andrea said of her training.
“For the first couple of weeks my body felt really fatigued when I started swimming over longer distances, but I’m definitely starting to see the results, and I feel really proud of myself.”
Born in late March, Andrea has regularly competed against swimmers up to one year older than her and said the age gap has definitely motivated her to push herself harder in the pool to beat her older rivals.
“It’s always made me more determined,” she said.
After receiving the People’s Choice Award for Junior Female Legend of the Decade at the 2023 Clarence Valley Sports Awards on February 10, Andrea revealed she is looking forward to the next 12 months in the pool and said as long as she continues to “give it her all”, she will always be proud of her results.