Swimmers Shine through A Golden Experience At AOSI

Swimming: AOSI Swimming Championships 2026

Written By
Joel June
Swimming Academy, Secondary 1

Ian James Kwek and Macayla Xia
Swimming Academy, Secondary 2


This year’s AOSI was our first overseas meet, and it was a great start. The first day was extremely tiring even though we did not compete that day. We woke up at 5am and headed to the airport by 6am, as our flight was at 8am. Before lunch, we had a familiarisation swim to adapt to the pool conditions. After dinner and grocery shopping, we returned to the hotel completely exhausted, and I am sure we all collapsed onto our beds and fell asleep immediately. We were grateful that the hotel was conducive for rest.

Competition began the next day, and it was quite eventful. Despite some delays, some of us had to wake up earlier than others to catch the first bus. Pool conditions aside, we won many medals and performed well overall. This showed us that instead of focusing negatively on the conditions, we should concentrate on racing well. We ended the day with the 4x50m Mixed Medley Relay, where Kidd Ang, Mikel Low, Rae Anne Ng, and Lee Zi Xuan performed to the best of their abilities and clinched a gold medal, an excellent way to end the day.

On the second day of AOSI, the events became even tougher. With the addition of supervised self-study time every night, our rest time was shortened, and it became difficult to push through. We were racing from 7 in the morning to 7 at night, with barely any rest in between. Coach Puay Kheng had to handle both warm-ups and races, while our General Manager, Mr Chin, was busy taking photos and managing the team. Nevertheless, we continued to perform well, clinching more medals and personal bests.

On the third day of AOSI, some of us had to wake up very early for the 400m Freestyle. It was a long day, and everyone had relays as well. Although the competition was strong, we continued to reach the podium and achieve new personal bests. We ended the day with a terrific 4x50m Relay. Without realising it, we were already halfway through AOSI, just two more days to go. With courage and resilience, we could all finish the meet strong.

On the fourth and final competition day of AOSI, the events lightened up, and we were finally able to appreciate how far we had come and how much we had achieved. The closing ceremony was a mix of emotions—both happy and sad—because we had done well, but the meet was also coming to an end. To top it off, we brought home the championship trophy for the team with the highest average points, which lifted everyone’s spirits. The meet concluded with a team dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant, where we refuelled and celebrated our experiences.

Finally, on the last day of AOSI, we concluded the trip with personal reflections on what we had learned before heading to the airport. It was sad because the trip passed by in a flash, and it was already time to go home.

Reflecting on this meet, I feel that we all achieved our goals and did extremely well. Over the competition held from 29 January to 1 February 2026, we won a whopping 62 medals (22 gold, 26 silver, 14 bronze), smashing 73 personal best and 9 meet records. Special shoutout to Mikel who ranked overall second, while Rae Anne and Ryker Tan won overall third in their age groups respectively. It was an eye-opener for all of us. We now know that there are many swimmers out there who are much faster, and that we should stay humble and train even harder. It was also an incredibly fun experience bonding with our friends. One of the highlights of the trip was when all the teams celebrated together after the relay on the third day. Overall, it was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to the next overseas meet with everyone.