Seven years later and he is more than delighted that his doctor suggested getting in the water to help heal the bone.

The year 12 Kinross student will now compete at the Olympic trials in the 100m backstroke later this year after a successful campaign at the Australian National Age Championships on the Gold Coast.

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He won a silver medal in the 100m backstroke 18-19 age division with a new personal best of 56.71 seconds. He narrowly missed out on a bronze in the 50m backstroke and came seventh in the 200 backstroke. These times placed him 10th overall in Australia.

"It was a good experience to be able to go and compete with some of the top swimmers in the country and some of the fastest guys in the world," he said of the age championships.

"Being able to see them before races was a bit surreal. In a sense it was a bit eye-opening to see how far you have to go and realising that they're a whole other step above you but it just gives that bit of motivation."

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About a year-and-a-half ago, McLaughlin thought he had sealed a spot at the Olympic qualifiers. But COVID brought an end to that, which makes his success this month that much more special.

"It was a long term goal of the year to be able to qualify for the trials," he added.

"I think the extra year helped me focus more on it and being able to take in what it is.

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"This extra year of development I have behind me now is really good because now I'm in a place where I can think about beginning to compete with the best."

It wasn't until a few years ago that he was able to sit back and take in just how far he had come since that 11-year-old boy with a broken arm.

"I realised that I was getting up there when I was 16, so not that long ago," he said.

"Swimming has always been something that I've just done and something I've enjoyed doing.

"It was only recently that I sat back and I was looking at rankings and I realised that this is getting kind of cool."

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He is taking a little break from training now, until he and coach Kim Taylor begin to ramp things up in the leadup to the trials, which run from June 12 to August 17.

"We're going to be focused on fitness and technique mostly, because after the age nationals we noticed there were some spots where we were missing compared to some people who were going faster," McLaughlin said.

"Just taking what we didn't do so well and focusing on those things in the next few months leading in and hopefully we'll be able to turn that around and see some better results."

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