The event was held at the Challenge Stadium in Perth from April 17 to 25.

The World Championships had previously been held in Perth in 1991 and 1998, making it the only capital city in the world to host this event twice.

To gain the FINA Masters was another triumph for the city and the state.

The Challenge Stadium’s five pools were taken over by swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming for the nine days.

The competitions statistics were staggering.

Almost 5000 swimmers from 74 countries took part in four disciplines.

There were entries from as far afield as Venezuela, Columbia, Russia, Slovakia, Brazil, Chile, Turkey and Qatar.

Japan had an amazing 800 competitors.

The open water swim was a race to Herrison Island and back again and had 12,417 entries across all strokes.

The most popular events were the 50m and 100m freestyle, which had 1490 and 1231 entries respectively.

In comparison, the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly had a mere 378 and 321 swimmers.

The open water swim attracted 740 entrants.

Gold and silver medals were awarded for first and second places, while bronze was awarded to competitors finishing between third and tenth.

The competition had five different age groups, with some catergories having 50 or more competitors, so a 10th or better placing was fittingly rewarded with these medals.

The youngest competitor was 25 years old, while the oldest was a 94-year-old Japanese female backstroker.

Male and female competitors swam separately, alternating daily between the indoor and outdoor pools.

Swimmers could enter five events only, plus the open water swim.

Albany’s eight swimmers received their share of the “hardware”.

The most successful was Marg Feldman (80-84 years) with a bronze for third place in the 50m backstroke, fifth in the 100m and 200m backstroke, 6th in the 400m freestyle and 10th in the 200m freestyle.

Tony Stanton (75-79) brought back four medals, coming 5th in the 400m individual medley, 6th in 100m butterfly, 8th in the 200m IM and 9th in the 800m freestyle.

He was 11th in the open water swim, but was outside the qualifying time in the 200m butterfly.

Ray Reeves (80-84) gained two medals, 5th in the 50m butterfly and 7th in the 100m freestyle.

She was 13th in 100m breaststroke but did not meet the qualifying time for 200m IM.

Bob Feldman (75-79) was just outside the medals but came close with an 11th in the 100m backstroke, 14th in the 50m backstroke, 22nd in 50m freestyle and was just outside the qualifying time for the 200m backstroke.

Erica Mercer (65-69) swam well to finish 19th in the 200m freestyle, 20th in 200m backstroke and 22nd in 800m freestyle.

Joy Humphries (60-64) was in a very competitive group but recorded good results to be 19th in the 200m backstroke, 20th in the 400m IM, 36th in the 200m freestyle and 39th in the 800m freestyle.

Alex House (70-74) was 24th in the 100m breaststroke, 26th in the 100m freestyle, 34th in the 50m freestyle.

Maureen Hanna (60-64) swam valiantly in the 50m butterfly and 50m and 200m freestyle, but with the strong opposition, unfortunately did not reach the qualifying times.

The atmosphere of the games was friendly and inviting.

Visitors and locals enjoyed each other’s company and many friendships were established.

This was particularly evident at each evening’s announcement of results and the closing ceremony with a great Aussie barbecue.

– Tony Stanton.