A star was born at the 2024 Hancock Prospecting Queensland Championships this week, with the arrival of a 15-year-old Brisbane schoolboy Lincoln Wearing who smashed a 28-year-old record held by two-time Olympic champion Grant Hackett since 1996.
Wearing, from the host Chandler Club at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, clocked a time of 15:28.90 – taking 1.73secs off Hackett’s Queensland 15 years Age record of 15:30.63 – swum at the 1996 Olympic Trials in Sydney when Hackett finished fifth to Kieren Perkins in one of the most memorable 1500m in Australian Championship history.
Hackett would go on to become one of Australia’s greatest distance champions – winning Olympic gold in 2000 and 2004 and silver in 2008 – holding the world record for 10 years
And in a night to remember for the Wearing family, Lincoln’s twin brother Isaac, finished second, winning the silver medal in 16:06.61, with Riley Meares (St Peters Western) 16:11.45 taking the bronze.
Photos Courtesy Wade Brennan
