Gold Medals and Records Highlight Neo’s swimming Summer Campaign

By Annika Bokor | Posted: Tuesday February 3, 2026

Like many Otago Boys’ sportsmen, Neo Salomonsson made the most of the summer break by competing in his chosen sport.

Summer is a busy season for water-based activities, with swimming, surfing, open water and surf lifesaving events all taking place around this time of year.

Just a couple of weeks after turning 17, Neo travelled to Christchurch to compete at the Canterbury West Coast Long Course Championships from 23–25 January. Racing in the highly competitive 17+/Open age category, he qualified for finals in all six of his events. He chose to contest four finals, narrowly winning gold in both the 50 m and 100 m butterfly. Along the way, he also broke the Otago 17-year-old age-group record in these two events.

Neo also secured silver medals in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle, recording two strong personal best times.

Adding to his summer success, in December 2025 Neo teamed up with Otago Boys’ old boy Taka Sugiyama as part of the 4 x 100 m freestyle men’s relay at the Otago Long Course Championships. The team delivered a strong performance, breaking the Otago Open record by almost three seconds.

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