Finn Askew has continued a tremendous season as he claimed gold in the ski relay event for his new club Newport at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships.
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Finn also picked up strong results in the individual events, as he reached the final of the swim, ski and ironman events, which all had more than 250 competitors.
The 17-year-old was unlucky not to earn better results in the finals as he was faced with numerous setbacks.
"In the swim final, I was in the front pack of six, but got unlucky with back markers coming through and getting those top places," Finn said.
"In the ski final, I managed to get a ninth place finish in a really tough field of kayakers.
"In Surf Club, the premier event is the ironman and to get eighth place was a really good result because of the level of the other athletes."
Finn was able to gather a lot of experience at his first Australian Championships.
"The carnival is such a hard five days. We race all day and it makes the chances of making a mistake so much higher," Finn said.
"You really have to learn to be focused on every race and every day because if you don't you might miss out on making the final.
"The whole carnival was filled with mixed emotions and results. Not many other athletes had made all four Aussie finals and I was so close to doing this but I just missed out on the board final by one position in a sprint up the beach."
Reflecting on another massive season, Finn was satisfied with his results.
"I was very happy with my results, I had set some pretty big goals at the start of the season and accomplished most of them, so I am very pleased," Finn said.
"I learned from this event and I believe I can come back next year and give it another good crack in the first year of Under-19s."
Finn will take a break from training for six weeks before he commences a gruelling 20-week training program in the lead up to the Coolangatta Gold in late October.
The St Paul's College student finished in fourth place in the 201km race last year and is hoping to get on the podium, or even win, the event in 2019.
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