Australian underwater athletes are converging on Hobart this weekend, for the 2025 Australian Finswimming Championships at the Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre.
Finswimming is the fastest swimming sport and a spectacular sight, as athletes compete in large monofins, bifins and snorkels. As well as surface events, the competition will include the challenging apnoea (breath-hold) 50m race.
Tasmanian finswimmers Sabina Lane and Brett Stephenson have brought home multiple gold and silver medals from national and international competition in recent years. This time around they face hot competition from interstate challengers like New South Wales’ Justine Diacomihalis whose sensational time of 20.79 in the women’s 50m Apnoea event at the CMAS Finswimming World Championships in Belgrade last year earned her a silver medal and established a new Australian women’s open record.
Other strong competitors will be Queenslander Frederic Maire who holds multiple world records in the underwater sport of Freediving, and is now well positioned to set new Australian finswimming open records, and South Australian Lizzie Howe who holds multiple Australian age records.
The 2025 Australian Finswimming Championships are primarily open age events, but two junior competitions will be a highlight. Recent World Junior Bronze Medalist Nick Chornenkyi, aged 10 from NSW will be one to watch, along with the Championships’ youngest competitor, Tasmania’s Audrey Lumley. At just 7 years old Lumley has been training solidly under coach Sabina Lane and is excited to compete on a national stage in her home state.
Event details – Australian Finswimming Championships 2025
Date: Sunday 16 February 2025
Time: Arrival 12:00. Races start at 13:00. Medals presented and event concludes by 16:00.
Place: Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre, 1 Davies Ave, Queens Domain TAS 7000
A finswimming meet in Hobart, 2024. Image supplied.
