Last week I featured in Noosa Today brothers Kilian and Nolan Carrel as two swimmers who competed at the 2025 Australian Open Water Championship at the Busselton Jetty in WA in late January.
Kilian and Nolan are now chasing an Olympic dream by swimming for the country of their birth, Switzerland. Born in the small village of Lamboing in Bern Canton, they came to Australia in 2011. The brothers both attended Sunshine Beach State High School and were first coached by John Rodgers (JR) at the Noosa Aquatic Centre (NAC). They performed well in both Queensland in Australian Open water competition and they are now looking forward to gaining more experience competing in the LEN [Lique Europeenne de Natation – European Swimming League] Cup events across Europe.
Although the brothers have grandparents and other family in Switzerland, it has been coach JR who has been most helpful in facilitating their swimming opportunities in Switzerland and Europe. JR has built an open water swimming and Triathlon legacy at the NAC and Noosa Swimming Club. Nolan and Kilian said that what makes this squad at Noosa so special is that the triathletes who train here do so alongside the open water swimmers. JR’s 60-plus years of experience has attracted some of the best triathletes in the world, such as Jan Frodeno from Germany, and Braden Currie, the world-champion long-distance Ironman from New Zealand”.
Prominent Swiss triathletes come to the NAC to train with JR in their off-season and have come to know Kilian and Nolan well. The lads will be staying with Fiorin Parfuss in St Galen and will also receive support from Cyril Knechtle, and their Swiss swimming coach will be Gabriel Schneider.
Apart from swimming in cities throughout Switzerland, the LEN Cup events will take Killian and Nolan to Paris, France; Proteas, Cyprus; Barcelona, Spain, and Setubal, Portugal. If they perform well in those events, they may qualify for the European Championships, and then could become eligible for the FINA World Championships in Singapore in mid-2025.
When asked about the potential outcomes in the 10 km open water events in Europe, Kilian said, “Currently, there are two swimmers competing for Switzerland who are a little older and a little faster than my brother and me, but with the additional swimming opportunities and experience gained from the LEN events we should be able to improve our times.”
In addition to the training at the NAC, the Noosa Surf Life Saving Club has also been a huge support in getting them ready to compete internationally. Both brothers have been doing open water and surf training at the beach with coaches from Noosa surf club. Nolan said they “appreciated receiving aid with recovery, massage, and associated swimming fees”.
Kilian and Nolan will be joined by their sister Neela for some of the time they are training, travelling, competing and working. Fifteen-year-old Neela came second in the 15 Years Age 5km Swim at the Australian Championships in Busselton.
[Dr Ian Jobling is Honorary Patron of the UQ Queensland Centre of Olympic and Paralympic Studies]
