Connor Roberts is a force of nature - a swimmer on the rise who has the confidence of an elite athlete and a singular focus: Olympic glory.
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The year 12 McCarthy Catholic College student has no backup plan: it is full-time swimming or bust for the 17-year-old, who left Farrer for McCarthy because he "didn't fit in" at the former. "Since swimming became part of my life, it is my life," he said. "Like, I can never see my life without it."
Two years after Roberts got serious about swimming, just before enrolling at McCarthy, his improvement is arresting. "I was kinda, like, always naturally gifted in the water."
He has now tethered that natural ability to a killer training routine, after easing his way into the sport. "I love the hard work. I say, 'Bring it on.'"
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The teen burst on to the national stage with bronze medals in the 200 metres individual medley and the 200m breaststroke at the Australian Age Championships in Adelaide in April.
At the recent School Sport Australian Championships in Melbourne, he won gold in the 200m IM and the 200m breaststroke, as well as bronze in the 50m breaststroke and the 50m freestyle relay. He did not get near the personal-best times he set in the 200m IM and 200m breaststroke at the age nationals in April.
However the Tamworth City ace is "really happy" with his performances in Melbourne, given that the event was staged during an ongoing "huge" training bloc. "So I wasn't really rested, like I was for the [age] nationals."
His main goal is swimming at the 2025 Paris Olympics, although he will attempt to earn a spot at next year's trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Before then, he aims to compete in a host of events as an open competitor at the 2020 Australian Championships in Perth, where he hopes to make finals. His pet events are the 200m IM and the 400m IM.
Roberts believes that he has reached only 30 per cent of his potential, his late start to competitive swimming owing to his upbringing in Thargomindah - a small town 1000 kilometres west of Brisbane that, according to a 2016 census, had a population of 270.
He started swim training at the start of year 10, but was only doing two sessions a week initially. "And then I had winter off and me and my coach [Nicolas Monet] had a meeting. And he said, 'You can go wherever you want in this sport - you just have to be able to work.'
"And I said, 'Well, what does it take'? And we've kind of just been working from there."
He added: "I don't wanna look back when I'm 50 and say, 'I could've done this, I could've done that'; I wanna do it."
Roberts entered swimming without a strong sporting pedigree. Despite that, he has not been surprised by his success in the pool.
"Like I said, I think I've reached only 30 per cent of my potential. And in training I always work very hard. So it's very rare that I look up at the [time] board and I surprise myself."
Roberts thanked McCarthy for getting behind him.
His mother, Belinda Easton, who relocated to Tamworth to be with her boy, sent the school an email ahead of the School Sport Australian Championships. In it she explained how costly the sport was for her family.
"And the school was generous enough to put on some fundraisers" he said. "And the P&C gives us a little bit of money, too. So, I'm very, very grateful for that, too."
