Galen Catholic College teacher Aron Lombardi has returned home from the Australian Masters Games with his neck laden with gold, after securing 11 medals from his 11 events in the pool at Canberra’s Australian Institute of Sports.

From 18-25 October, the best masters athletes from across the country competed in 50 sports, but Lombardi separated himself from the pack, securing the gold in all 11 events he participated in over the two days of swimming.

Competing in the male 35-39 age group, Lombardi won all events he entered: the 25m, 50m and 100m Butterfly; the 25m, 50m and 100m Freestyle; the 25m, 50m, 100m, and 200m Backstroke, and the 200m individual medley.

On top of the strong age group results, he was also the overall winner of the 100m Butterfly from all age groups.

Lombardi said he was a bit startled by his success at the event, given his limited training in the lead-up.

“It was unexpected, you never quite know how you’ll go,” he said.

“Initially, it was good, the first few weeks getting back into training were good, and then you realise you’re 36 and the body doesn’t quite like to do what it used to do.

“I didn’t really train in June, July, August at all – I literally didn’t swim for three months.

“Once September hit and it got a bit warmer I thought I’d better start training a little bit again.

“I had a crash course, eight weeks of limited training, but I was pretty happy with how it all went.

“I wouldn’t have ever had that sort of strike rate at a swimming event before.”

It’s been a busy year for Lombardi in his return to competition swimming after 20 years.

Earlier in the year, he took out the Iron Goggles Award for being one of only six swimmers across the state who were to complete all seven middle/long distance events on the same afternoon at the Masters Swimming Victoria Middle Distance Championships.

He also won multiple gold medals in April at the Australian Masters Swimming Championships.

“It’s been a good year,” Lombardi said.

Lombardi thanked Deb Hogg and the Wangaratta Amateur/Masters Swimming Club, and his wife Danielle, for their support in his competitive swimming endeavours.

With summer right around the corner, Lombardi said he was considering swapping the pool for the open water, competing in distance swim events.

“I’m thinking I might try a few open-water swims over the summer, I might do some down in the ocean or in some of the lakes and rivers they have around,” he said.

“I’ll probably start training for some distance freestyle stuff now, which is different from what I’ve trained for this year.

“I’ll do some long swimming in the 50m pool and see how some of these open-water swims go.”