Dolphins Headline AIS Awards Finalists

The Australian Dolphins swim team, along with several leading Dolphins athletes have been recognised amongst the finalists for next month’s AIS Sport Performance Awards (ASPAs).

The team as a whole is a finalist for the High-Performance Program of the Year award, following outstanding results at both the World Para Swimming Championships and FINA World Championships in June, before the integrated team came together for Australian swimming’s most successful overseas Commonwealth Games campaign, and second best on record, returning from Birmingham with 65 medals, including 25 Gold.

Katja Dedekind was nominated as a finalist for the Female Para Athlete of the Year capping a remarkable 12 months in the pool, following a Gold and two Silver at the World Para Swimming Championships before backing up to claim the World/Commonwealth double in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S13 in a new World Record time in Birmingham.

Zac Stubblety-Cook’s star continues to rise, named as a finalist for the Male Athlete of the Year having broken the 200m Breaststroke World Record at the Australian Trials in May, before going on to win his pet event at both the World Championships and Commonwealth Games, joining Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett as just the third Australian male in the last 25 years to hold the Olympic, World and Commonwealth titles, and World Record, in the same event.

Teammates Timothy Hodge and Col Pearse are both in the running for Male Para Athlete of the Year, each making a significant contribution to the team’s success across the Madeira and Birmingham campaigns.

Hodge claimed a Gold and two Bronze medals at the Para Swimming Championships, including breaking Dolphins legend Matt Cowdrey’s 14 year old 200m Medley SM9 World Record, before securing both a Gold and Silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Pearse also impressed across 2022 with two Silver Medals in Portugal before going one better in Birmingham to claim Gold in a powerful performance in the 100m Butterfly S10 Final.

The winners of each category will be honoured at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday December 15.