Albany Creek's Josh Richardson with some of the medals won at recent national swimming championships.
According to singer Meatloaf, two out of three ain’t bad.
And when it comes to winning swimming gold medals, that’s just a standard result at a national competition for Josh Richardson.
The Albany Creek local won two of the three events he contested at the recent Australian Schools Swimming Championship in Brisbane, to continue a stunning year of success in the water.
The 16-year-old freestyle distance swimmer, a member of the Albany Creek Swim Club, won gold in both the 1500m and 800m events at Chandler, to go with a bronze medal secured in the 400m swim.
“I was really happy with the last competition, my two major events I came first in, so I couldn’t really be happier,” Richardson said.
“For the period we’re in at the moment with training we’re still doing tough training, so I wasn’t really expecting to do too much, but I ended up doing a few good times.”
Richardson’s efforts at Chandler followed a perfect showing at the Australian Open Water Championships in February, where he won gold medals for both the 5km and 10km open water swims for his age group, and a silver medal in the 1500m at the National Age Championships at Easter.
Richardson, who has only had one week off training in the past 12 months, credited new coach Richard Sleight for some of his success.
“I’ve nearly dropped a minute under him for my 1500m, so I’m pretty happy with where I am at the moment,” said Richardson, a member of the Australian Flippers Development Squad.
“Last year wasn’t too bad, but this has probably been one of my best years.”
Richardson said his club was in a rebuilding phase following the departure of Olympic gold medal winning pair Kylie Palmer and Wights Mountain’s Bronte Barratt, fellow Olympian Leith Brodie and World Championship open water medallist Trent Grimsey, from Cashmere.
But he said the chance for Albany Creek’s emerging stars to rejuvenate the club on the strength of their own success was exciting.
“You know that any other good swimmers you attract (to the club) it’s pretty much because of yourself and other national (level) guys around you,” Richardson said.