By David Nagel
Over the Christmas period, the Star News’ sports team will be re-sharing some of the most popular stories from over the course of 2023.
Thank you for supporting our newspapers over the course of the year. We hope you enjoy the selection and have a wonderful holiday period, however you choose to celebrate.
Lucas Kovac is a swimming star on the rise.
The 10-year-old from Pakenham Hills Primary School – who is learning his craft with the Casey Tigersharks in Narre Warren – put his name up in lights recently with two gold medal performances at the School Sports Victoria State Championships.
Lucas used the pool at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre to showcase his rising talents, winning gold in the 50-metre breaststroke and butterfly for Boys 9-10.
He won the breaststroke in 44.78 seconds, almost two seconds clear of the field, and put a 2.78-second gap on his rivals in the butterfly.
“I love the butterfly the most, and seeing my name on the screen made me happy,” Lucas said.
The son of Kylie and Endi, and brother to sisters Ashley and Makayla, started swimming lessons at the age of one.
He was identified as a potential talent at four and joined his first swimming squad at five.
He has now dolphin-kicked his way to two state titles and wants to be like his heroes.
“My hero is Michael Phelps, I like everything about him, and I like Ian Thorpe and Kyle Chalmers as well,” he said.
“I want to swim faster than them.
“I want to be an Olympic gold medallist when I get older.”
Lucas holds eight club records at the Tigersharks, in the eight and nine-year-old bracket, and trains six days a week as he looks to keep improving his times.
He has just joined the gold class at Casey, and is the youngest in the squad by almost two years.
Earlier this year, at the Victorian State Sprint Championships, he became the only nine-year-old to qualify for all four strokes – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle – in the 11-and-under category.
While showing talent in all four strokes, Lucas could only choose two for the SSV championships.
He has now been nominated for nationals, and is likely to be selected for the Victorian team at the end of this month for the championships in Sydney in August.
He is also to about to compete in the short-course racing season, with the first race beginning on May 21.
Lucas is obviously sharp at the 50-metre journey, but trains hard and has the stamina to compete at distances all the way up to 400.
Being such a versatile swimmer in all four strokes, he looms as a potential weapon in the Individual Medley as well.
His hard work and dedication are truly impressing his family.
“We’re super proud, we think he’s amazing,” Kylie said.
“His hard work, his focus, his commitment, he’s definitely got a competitive edge to him and he puts in a 110-percent every time.
“He’s very driven, he tries his best every time he hops in the pool and you can see he’s got that extra bit of something.
“We just keep taking him to training, and he keeps improving…and as long as he continues to love it we’ll keep on doing that and see where it takes him.
“We get told he’s got quite a bit of talent but he still has a lot of swimming to do
“Aside from school swimming, they can’t do proper state championships until they’re 12, or nationals until 14, so we’ve still got some time to go.”
But there’s no question about it…Lucas Kovac is a swimming star on the rise!
