A new wave of Bull Sharks is set to make a splash on the global stage when Bond University swimmers Jesse Welsh, Josh Collett and Milla Jansen compete at the Short Course World Championships in Budapest.
It marks the first selection to a senior national team for a major international event for all three swimmers.
Their stories are linked by a mutual predilection for hard work, a world-class coaching team at Bond headlined by Chris Mooney, Kyle Samuelson and Zander Hay, and a shared inspiration from the 2024 performances of teammates and fellow students Ben Armbruster, Flynn Southam and Lani Connolly that earned them tickets to the Paris Olympics.
Jesse Welsh: Rekindling passion and embracing the process
Jesse Welsh is proof that persistence pays off.
Day after day, lap after lap, she motored up and down the Peter Beckwith Pool – bookending a heavy study schedule for her Bachelor of Biomedicine degree.
A star student who forced her way onto the Dean’s list for Academic Excellence, Welsh found results in the pool more elusive throughout the duration of her degree, but the foundations were being laid.
Then, almost from the moment she threw her cap in the air on graduation day in February 2024, the digits started falling off her best times.
Suddenly, Welsh loved swimming again and the sport loved her back.
She made her first New Zealand team for the Oceania Championships in April and then booked a lane in the 200m freestyle for the Short Course World Championships in Budapest.
While most student athletes take on reduced academic loads, Welsh studied full time and coach Zander Hay revealed one of the most common discussions the pair shared was around being patient and trusting in the process.
“Jesse was a really committed student and she put everything into her studies,” he said.
“I just had to keep reinforcing to her that the work she was also putting into her training was going to pay off.
“And this year it has felt like each day she’s faster than the one before.’’
Welsh puts it down to a refreshed mindset and the extra time she can devote to the sport.
“I rediscovered my passion for the sport after a couple of very full years juggling studying and training,” she said.
“The fine-tuning of technical skills and attention to detail in fuelling and recovery has made all the difference.
“Being surrounded by passionate, high-performing teammates at Bond has been inspiring.”
Making New Zealand’s World Championship team brought “pure excitement” and she will adopt the same mindset that steered her through her studies to learn as much as possible about competing on the world stage.
Like Milla and Josh, Jesse draws inspiration from seeing teammates excel at the Olympics and has her sights set on joining them in Los Angeles in 2028.
“It makes the dream feel achievable and real,” she said.
“I just have to trust that if I put in the work, the results will follow.”
Josh Collett: Dolphins cap step one on journey to LA
Since dreaming of joining the Dolphins as a 10-year-old, Joshua Collett’s journey to receiving pin No.860 on the senior team is the culmination of hard work, family sacrifice and world-class coaching.
“This year I owe it all to my coaches and my family,” the Bachelor of Biomedical Science student said.
“Chris and Kyle are specialists in converting promising athletes into international quality,” Collett said.
“They’ve dedicated a lot of time especially this year with all the major competitions, and yet it feels like they’re personalised coaches even though we have a somewhat sizeable high-performance swimming program.
“And I wouldn’t have been able to chase the dream and now live the dream without my parents and family. They’ve sacrificed just about everything to support my journey and for that I’m so grateful.”
The Hancock Prospecting Swimming Excellence Scholarship recipient aims to continue pushing his limits in Budapest.
In his first major international meet, where he will compete in the 100m and 20m breaststroke, his ambition is simply to continue to improve.
“My approach to this meet is simply to put together the best races I can and continue to outdo my own best times,” he said.
“I don’t put expectations into placement or anything like that. If I’ve done my best time then wherever it lands me, I will take it in my stride.”
Collett also confesses to being driven to greater heights by witnessing two of the Bull Sharks’ 2024 Olympians transfer their high-level training into performance on the international stage.
“It was inspiring and also relieving to see Benny and Flynn getting to compete on the biggest stage,” he said.
“They’re two of my best mates and I’m lucky that we’re all working to help each other make it big-time.”
Although it is the realisation of a childhood dream, the 20-year-old sees the Budapest meet as just the first step towards his long-term ambitions.
“My goals are pretty simple, keep ticking away at uni and I’m working towards Olympic gold in LA 2028,’’ he said.
Milla Jansen: The ‘nothing to lose’ mindset that is breaking barriers
Milla Jansen’s breakthrough call-up to the senior Dolphins squad can be traced to a change in mindset after her disappointment at missing selection for the Paris Games.
A three-time Junior Australian representative, Jansen booked her spot on the senior team after finally breaking the 54-second barrier for the 100m freestyle at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
“It’s a dream I’ve had since I first started swimming,” she said.
“This team is a great learning experience, and I want to give every race my best with a nothing-to-lose mindset.”
The 18-year-old announced herself as one of the next big things in sprinting at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships by upstaging American teen sensation Rylee Erisman to claim gold in the 50m freestyle with a career best time of 24.76.
She added a silver medal in the 100m freestyle, bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and silver in the 4x100m medley relay.
It wiped away the disappointment of the Olympic trials where she came up short in her quest to dip below the 54-second mark for the 100m to be any chance of making the team.
With encouragement from Chris Mooney and Kyle Samuelson, she recalibrated her mindset, culminating in a breakthrough 53.81 swim at Junior Pan Pacs.
“I’d been sitting around 54 seconds for a year, basically every time I swam,” she said.
“I was frustrated after the trials because I definitely thought I had more to give.
“I then had to get back to training for Pan Pacs. I feel that in the training block leading into the meet, something switched in my mind and I became more confident in my ability.
“So there has been natural progression, but that little leap of time I attribute to my mindset change after Olympic trials.
“I was definitely even more determined.”
Jansen’s ambitions don’t end in Budapest. Her eyes are set on the World Championships trials next year and, ultimately, following in the footsteps of Southam and Armbruster by making the team for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“Watching Flynn and Ben qualify for the Olympics gave me so much fire in my belly,” she said.
“Flynn is like a brother, we’ve been training together since I was about 11.
“Seeing their hard work pay off has made me even more determined.”