SWIMMING

OLYMPICS

By TOM HAYES

 

BOUND for the pools of Paris.

The Traralgon duo of Emily Beecroft and Ruby Storm will set off for their second consecutive Paralympics together later this year, after both qualified to represent Australia in Paris.

It will be Beecroft’s third Paralympics, after competing at the 2016 Rio Games, and 2020 Tokyo Games (played in 2021 due to COVID-19 delay), while for Storm, it will be her second Games, after also competing in Tokyo three years ago.

Swimming at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre from June 10 to 15, the two girls competed in their respective classes and strokes with hopes of gaining a qualification time worthy enough to send them to France.

Both were successful in that hunt, qualifying for a number of events between them.

Beecroft was happy to see her hard work pay off.

“I’m super excited, I know I’ve had a really good six months of training and I’m just really happy and relieved to have finally qualified and be certain that I am going over to Paris,” she said.

Storm said she felt a massive weight lifted off her shoulders after hearing about her qualification.

“I was pretty relieved, very happy with how I went over at trials. I think as it’s a very stressful week, and we got a text message saying that we made it, and I think when a lot of us received that text message a lot of weigh just came off our shoulders,” she said.

“Obviously our goal was to make the Paralympics, our next goal is to do really well at the Paralympics.”

Beecroft has confirmed she will be competing in the 100 metre Freestyle and S9 100m Butterfly. She is confident that she will also qualify for the 34 Points Mixed Medley Relay in the S9 classification.

“I’ve always just been really grateful and happy to attend a Paralympics,” she said.

“I think going into this year, I’ve think just based off of my performances this year and based of performances from my other competitors, I’m hoping to do more than just compete.

“I’m in good contention of getting a podium finish so hopefully I can continue to do some good times… and hopefully grab an individual medal.”

Storm, although qualifying at the 11th hour, will have a very heavy schedule in Paris.

She qualified for S14 classified events including the 200m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 100m Backstroke, and 4x100m Relay.

“I do pretty well with a very heavy schedule, just with the stress and everything, just not putting all the eggs in one basket with events,” she said.

“I want to do well obviously in the 100m (freestyle) for the relay, and then the 100m (butterfly), and 200m freestyle – they’re my main ones.”

The pair, who currently live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, will have just over two months to prepare for the Paralympics, which takes place from August 28 to September 8.

Since Tokyo 2020 (in 2021), both girls have trained immensely to improve and try to bring home medals like they did three years ago.

Beecroft moved from Traralgon to the Sunshine Coast to train with the USC High Performance Para Program during that time.

“It’s just amazing to see the improvement I’ve made over the past three years… I can’t wait to see what I can do in Paris to prove all that hard work,” she said.

As for Storm, she has been in Queensland since the COVID era, moving at 16-years-of-age to pursue her swimming career.

“I’ve changed programs, so I’ve gone from USC to St Andrews… I think just changing the program and just working on my strokes and how to improve them to get those one-percenters faster (has been beneficial),” Storm said.

Beecroft and Storm essentially grew up together and are now living out their dreams on the biggest stage of them all.

The fact that they get to go to another Paralympics together makes it all the more special for the duo.

Hoping to get on a plane to Paris will be a small contingent of Latrobe Valley locals. Now with these two confirmed alongside former Moe soccer player, Teagan Micah, a few more are awaiting their final qualification status.

Traralgon basketballers Jack White and Jade Melbourne will be hoping to make the final cuts of their teams, which is expected to be finalised in early July.