Bowen Gough - former Newhaven College student - has recently won his third Australian National 200m butterfly title at the Australian Championships at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre April 17 - 20.

Bowen, from Bass, who started his competitive swimming journey with the local South Gippsland Bass Swimming Club as a seven-year-old, now trains with the elite High Performance Griffith University squad on the Gold Coast alongside World and Olympic Champion Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Lani Pallister, Brendon Smith and pop star/swimmer Cody Simpson. The squad is coached by world renowned Australian coaches Michael Bohl and Janelle Pallister.

Bowen previously represented Australia on the Australian Junior and University teams before becoming an Australian Dolphin Swimmer representing Australia at the 2022 World Championships in the Budapest and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where he finished fourth.

In the 200m butterfly final at the Australian Open Championships, Bowen and 100m butterfly specialist Australian Dolphin swimmer Matthew Temple were out in front of the rest of the field fighting it out to the last stroke, with Bowen getting his hands on the wall first in an exciting finish to claim the national title.

Bowen is now back in hard training for the Olympic trials in June, where he will not only have to finish first or second to qualify for the Olympic team but also swim under the fastest qualifying time of any country in the world for the men's 200m butterfly (1:54.97). Only one other Australian male has ever broken the 1:55 time, so it's going to require an extraordinary swim.

Bowen is currently the fifth fastest 200m butterfly swimmer in the history of Australian swimming. An amazing achievement for a country kid who had a dream to represent his country in the sport he loved - growing up in a town that didn't even have access to a 50m pool.

The 200m butterfly is renowned as one of the most gruelling events in swimming.