Trio named in Dolphins' world team

Published 3:00pm 13 April 2022

Above: Brenden Hall celebrates winning the 400m freestyle title in Adelaide. Picture Delly Carr

Three members of the Belgravia Swim Team at Burpengary Regional Aquatic Centre will be flying to Madeira in June to take on the world.

Brenden Hall, Lakeisha Patterson and Paige Leonhardt have been selected named in the Australian Dolphins team for the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships.

It follows standout performances this week at the Australian para titles in Adelaide where all three won national titles.

Lakeisha Patterson will be in the individual medley at Birmingham. Picture Delly Carr

Hall, a four-time Paralympian who lives at Mango Hill, opened the first night of finals with victory by the narrowest of margins.

He beat triple Tokyo Para gold medallist William Martin, from Nudgee College, by just .24 of a second clocking 4 minutes 14.05 seconds in the Men’s 400m.

Belgravia team-mate Lakeisha ‘Lucky’ Patterson, who learned to swim on Bribie Island and now lives at Caboolture, then made it a 400m freestyle double.

Paige Leonhardt who is in the Dolphins squad for the World Para Championships in Manchester. Picture Delly Carr

Patterson was too strong for the field, stopping the clock at 4:44.13 – more than 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Hannah Price from Campbelltown.

Completing the Belgravia hat-trick was Paige Leonhardt, who won the women’s 100m butterfly in 1:06.28 ahead of Nelson Bay’s Taylor Cory in 1:08.51.

Patterson also collected medals as runner-up in the 100m freestyle with 1:04.14, just .04 of a second behind Emily Beecroft and .1 ahead of Ashleigh McConnell in third.

Close race for Lakeisha Patterson at the 2022 Australian Para Championships this week. Picture Delly Carr

However, there was clearer water between Patterson and Kiera Stephens in the Women’s 200m IM. Stephens finished in 2:32.99 with Lucky second in 2:37.55.

Leonhardt was also third in the 100m breaststroke clocking 1:18.33 and 200m freestyle, finishing in 2:15.46, just over half a second behind the winner.

Those performances earned places in the 21-strong Dolphins team for the World Para Championships on the Portuguese island of Madeira from June 12-18.

“Our Tokyo Paralympic campaign set an excellent standard and I have no doubt this team will again represent us strongly as we reset for the first international benchmark event of this new cycle, Swimming Australia CEO Eugenie Buckley said.