Broome swimming star Jasper Barnett claims gold at Surf Life Saving WA State Championships

One of Broome’s best young swimmers, Jasper Barnett, has brought home a gold medal after competing at the Surf Life Saving WA State Championships on March 9 and 10. The star swimmer travelled to Perth and tackled the rough seas at Trigg Beach over the duration of the championships with a 2.5m swell and 20km winds making it a challenging couple days of competition. Competing for Broome Surf Club, Barnett won gold in the surf race, a 300m ocean swim starting and finishing at the beach, from a field of approx 35 competitors. The 12-year-old athlete also finished in the eighth position in the IronWoman competition, a gruelling event that combines swimming, running, surf ski paddling and board paddling. Upon returning home Barnett said she was over the moon with the gold medal win and her placing in the IronWoman competition. “I was pretty nervous not having swam at Trigg Beach before but everybody was very nice,” she said. Its not the first time Barnett has graced our pages due to achievements in the swimming arena, with the young prodigy breaking a slew of records and claiming a host of medals at the WA Junior Short Course Swimming Championships in September last year. Going up against some of the best swimmers from across the State, Barnett broke five 11-year-old WA Country records and another two above her age group in the 12-year-old category. The speedy swimmer also came home with a slew of medals around her neck from all seven events she entered, winning five gold and two silver.