Toohey: the swimmer whose ‘stuff’ makes people happy

There’s an unmistakeable wholesomeness in the tone of teenager Sienna Toohey’s voice when she explains why she’ll never forget her selection in last year’s Australian Dolphins team that competed at the World Aquatic Championships in Singapore.

Toohey qualified for the Australian team when she finished first in the 100m breaststroke final at the 2025 Australian World Championship Swimming Trials in Adelaide by hitting the wall in a time of 1:06.65.

The then 16-year-old captured plenty of hearts around the nation when, while being interviewed by Olympic gold medallist and Nine’s poolside reporter, Cate Campbell, Toohey suddenly burst into tears while recalling her family’s sacrifices to allow her the opportunity to chase her dream of wearing the Dolphins’ famous gold cap.

One year later, and after modelling one of the striking Valour uniforms Australia’s Commonwealth Games team will wear at Glasgow in 60 days’ time, the world championship silver medallist said she’d never forget that night’s explosion of emotion and sense of achievement.

“It means the world to me, honestly,” said Toohey, a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder.

“I remember watching the Tokyo Olympics – watching the swimmers – and seeing how excited they were after their races and seeing the joy. It’s just a feeling you can’t get all the time.

“[Representing Australia] is just something I’ve always wanted, and when I touched the wall, all I thought about was what it meant to me and my family, mainly – and all the little girls – and boys – who idolise me from Albury.

“It means the world to me. I like making stuff that makes other people happy.”

While the 17-year-old looked comfortable in the Aussie Commonwealth Games team’s gear at Thursday’s uniform launch in Sydney, she’ll get the chance to cement her place in the team that will compete at Glasgow and the Pan Pacs in America when the Australian Swimming Trials are held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from June 8-13.

As she soaked in the sights of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Toohey explained why she isn’t allowing herself to overthink what’s on the line.

“We always have it in the back of our mind,” Toohey said about the pressure of competing at trials. “I usually don’t think about it [until we get to Sydney] just to keep myself calm and not really try and overthink it because it’s very, very stressful  going into trials. I’m just trying to keep it in the back of my mind.”

Toohey, who started swimming because she and one of her brothers wanted to play water polo, credited joining forces with former Australian and Danish Olympic Team coach Shannon Rollason at the Swimming Australia Technology Hub and ACT Performance Centre at the Canberra-based AIS for taking her swimming to a new level.

The hub was formed after NSWIS, Swimming NSW, Swimming Australia, and the Academy of ACT sport signed an agreement that allows NSWIS scholarship holders and emerging NSW and ACT swimmers to live, train, and access the world-class facilities in Canberra while remaining embedded in the national pathway toward Brisbane 2032.

It allowed Toohey, whose hometown of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border doesn’t have an indoor 50m pool, to train under Rollason – who has coached the likes of 2004 Olympic gold medallists Jodie Henry OAM and Alice Mills OAM – and his squad, a team Toohey enthusiastically describes as ‘supportive.’

“I reckon in this last year I’ve been under [Rollason] I’ve just gained that much more matureness in the world of swimming . . . how I do my races . . . that I’ll carry forever,” she said.

“The squad is so supportive. We’re all friends and we want the same thing.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS