Article updated: Thursday 12 September 2024

By Henry Lee

Rising swimming star Grayson Coulter has won eight events at the Zespri AIMS Games in Tauranga this week, smashing records and achieving times in the pool that have been described by his coach as “world-class for his age”.

The 12-year-old student from Murrays Bay Intermediate School on Auckland’s North Shore has turned heads at the annual week-long sports tournament for intermediate-aged students.

This year there are nearly 13,000 athletes from more than 390 schools across Aotearoa and overseas competing at the AIMS Games – more than the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Grayson is one of 488 swimmers competing and he has made waves.

He topped the podium in three short-course individual events on Sunday, winning the 100m Individual Medley, 50m Butterfly, and 200m Freestyle.

He followed that up by winning the 100m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle on Monday, and then the 200m Individual Medley, 50m Backstroke, and 100m Freestyle on Tuesday.

Grayson is part of the North Shore Swimming Club, which competes at national swim meets throughout the year.  

“North Shore Swimming Club has a really good vibe around the club, I talk to all of the seniors who are really good, and the juniors are all nice people. So it’s a good club spirit,” he said.

Throughout Grayson’s time at North Shore Swimming Club, coach Michelle Gillies has observed his rapid rise.

“He is an athlete who takes direction and coaching well, in a training sense and race sense,” she said.

“How he applies himself when executing race plans – it’s so exciting to see this in someone so young. He is swimming times that are world-class for his age, and the world is his oyster from here.”

Grayson achieved a personal best time in the 200m (short-course) freestyle event that he won at AIMS on Sunday – 1:54.64.

That’s just 11 seconds behind the New Zealand 200m (short-course) freestyle national men’s open record, set in 2017 by Olympian Matthew Stanley at the Swimming World Cup in Beijing, China.

Grayson is already showing all the right signs that he has what it takes to compete at the very highest level and is a rising star in New Zealand swimming.

New Zealand swimming legends Danyon Loader, Lewis Clareburt, and Cameron Gray have all played a part in fostering his talent.

“I’ve met Lewis Clareburt and Danyon Loader, they were awesome. Cameron Gray too, I did a butterfly underwater training session with him which was cool,” Grayson said.

His determination to become the best swimmer he possibly can is evident.

“It’s definitely going to be my profession, I really hope to go to the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, that’s the end goal.”

With that attitude, and with the times he’s already recording in the pool, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

Grayson’s 2024 Zespri AIMS Games

100m short-course Individual Medley: 1:00.70 - 1st place

50m short-course Butterfly: 26.89 - 1st place

200m short-course Freestyle: 1:54.64 - 1st place

100m short-course Butterfly: 58.98 - 1st place

50m short-course Freestyle: 24.45 - 1st place

200m short-course Individual Medley: 2:10.82 - 1st place

50m short-course Backstroke: 28.46 - 1st place

100m short-course Freestyle: 52.64 - 1st place