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14 yr old Grace Khelan wins second gold in New Zealand

14 yr old Grace Khelan wins second gold in New Zealand

By Alipate Narawa , Vijay Narayan
10/04/2026

14-year-old Grace Khelan  won her second gold medal for Fiji at the New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships.

Khelan won her 100 metres Freestyle women's heat with a time of 59.57 seconds in Hastings.

She had earlier won gold in the 50 metres freestyle for her age group.

Fiji Aquatics Performance Coach, Sharon Smith says Grace has always been a superstar since she was under 12.

Smith says Grace has been waiting till she turned 14 to experience and gain exposure internationally.

She says Grace's first international meet was in Dunedin last month, where she won 3 gold medals, and now in Hastings, she is racing NZ's top age groupers. 

The Performance Coach says Grace has achieved many qualifying times for next month's Oceania Championships, which will be held in Suva. 

She says Grace's performance so far in Hastings shows we need more overseas experience and exposure to be able to produce results, as she has broken age-group records as well.

Smith says that Grace is in the top two in a few events in Fiji.

She adds her Head Coach, Esther Malani, has worked hard to get Grace to where she is and has been very patient with her development and pathway.

Next up for Grace and her team is hopefully the Junior Pan Pacific and Youth Olympics this year, Tahiti next year, as well as the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Her father, Michael Khelan, says he gives God all the glory and honour for his girl.

He says they are so proud of her as all the hard work and sacrifice is paying off.

He reminds his daughter to stay humble as this is just the start of God's great vision for her.

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