Isabelle Rae and Sienna Toohey: Albury swimmers on course to reach the very top

The Albury High School students, 14, announced themselves to the world of swimming when they won a combined six medals at the Australian Age Championships on the Gold Coast.

Toohey claimed silver ahead of Rae in the 100m breaststroke before the roles were reversed in the 50m breaststroke. Toohey raced to bronze in the 200m individual medley and Rae was part of the 4x50m mixed medley relay team which finished third.

The pair have since starred at the NSW Combined High School Championships in Sydney, where Toohey won five gold medals and two silvers as well as breaking the 100m breaststroke record for 14 years girls.

Rae defended her 100m breaststroke title and backed it up with bronze in the 15/16 years 200m IM.

It's an extraordinary roll of honour which speaks volumes of their work ethic at Albury Swim Club and rightly has people excited about their future potential.

"The lead-up to nationals was very intense," Toohey said.

"There was one Saturday we were doing these 200m breaststrokes, broken up into 50s and our coach kept yelling at us to do more, he kept adding to them.

"We kept complaining but in the long run, I reckon that's what got us the medals at nationals.

"Our goal for this year was to get medals at nationals so we really put in the hard work and this has been my best year ever of swimming.

"It's not just the fact I won medals at nationals, I was more excited for Belle.

"There's been a lot of mornings when I didn't feel like getting up but the satisfaction of getting up, doing the set and going home makes me feel like I've accomplished something early in the day."

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The girls train six days a week, with double sessions every Tuesday and Thursday as well as gym work on Monday and Wednesday.

"We can complain to each other when we want to jump out but neither of us would be where we are without each other," Rae smiled.

"There's a lot of under-the-surface rivalry between us; we both just want to beat each other.

"It's taken a lot of work to reach this point with our swimming but we enjoy it - most days!

"It's a lot of kilometres before school; we show up in the morning when it's just us, and we train every day except Sunday.

"I'm sure a lot of kids have this dream but Olympic gold would be the pinnacle and I think this year proved that's totally possible for both of us.

"You have your list of goals, you know what you have to do and some days you don't want to but you remind yourself that if I want to be the best, that's what I have to do."

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