Anchorman: UQ student secures bronze in final leg of 4x200m freestyle relay

By Nicole Jeffery
Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) '90

Business student Tom Neill has anchored the Australian men’s 4x200 metres freestyle relay team to the bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games.

Neill, 22, was handed the responsibility of securing a medal in the final leg and becomes the first UQ athlete to win a medal in Paris.

The British team went into the final as warm favourites and emerged with the gold in 6:59.43, just ahead of the US team (7:00.78) with the young Australian team third (7:01.98).

Individual 200-metre freestyle finalist Max Giuliani led off the Australian team in 1:45.99, handing over to 19-year-old Flynn Southam (1:45.53), who moved Australia into the top 3. Paris Olympic 400-metre freestyle silver medallist Elijah Winnington (1:45.19) held that position and Neill brought the team home in 1:45.27.

Neill (Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) has been the regular anchor for this team for the last 3 years and said he loved the challenge of being the team closer.

“I grew up playing team sports [he had ambitions to be a rugby player] and this really is the closest thing we can get to a team sport,’’ he said.

“It’s an 800m freestyle really, it’s not 4 individual 200-metre splits.’’

He said his ambition when he hit the water was to chase down the teams ahead rather than protect the bronze-medal position.

“I was racing some really talented swimmers and people I have raced on the anchor leg for a few years now,’’ he said.

“I think the common theme across all of us is that we fought and we fought tough in the way that Aussies do in all sports here at the Olympics. We fought tough, we hung in there, and we got the bronze.”

Elijah Winnington, Maximillian Giuliani, UQ student Thomas Neill (second from right) and Flynn Southam with their bronze medals after the men's 4x200 metres freestyle relay final. Image: Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

This is Neill’s second consecutive bronze medal in this event, as he was also a member of the Tokyo relay team in 2021.

Earlier in the week, Neill reached the semi-finals of the individual 200 metres freestyle, finishing 10th in 1:46.18, 2 places shy of reaching the final, but he stepped up for his teammates in the relay.

Neill had a full schedule this week, backing up for the 200 metres individual medley and bowing out in semi-finals on Friday morning (AEST).

He swam the medley for the first time at international level at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka and missed the final by one place, finishing ninth.

He did not swim this event at the Olympic trials in June because a knee injury had disrupted his training for breaststroke, but when a place became available to swim the medley at the Olympics, he gladly accepted it.

He said he was “super excited’’ to swim a second individual event at the Games.

“The medley is pretty new to me,’’ he said.

“I grew up doing a lot of it, but in the last couple of years I’ve mixed up the training and it’s helped me find the love for the sport again.

“And at the end of the day, it’s another swim at the Olympics. I don’t take that lightly.”

Neill is halfway through his Advanced Business degree at UQ, following in the footsteps of his father, sister and brother, who have all studied there.

He usually does 2 or 3 subjects per semester, which gives him an interest outside swimming.

“My club Rackley takes a holistic approach to its swimmers and our coach Damo [Damian Jones] always talks about us setting up a life outside of swimming,’’ Neill said.

“It is important to have balance in your life and UQ have been really generous in helping me balance study with training and life as an elite athlete.’’

Once his elite sporting career is over, he hopes to carve out a second career in the finance world. But for now, swimming remains his priority.