Claire Van Kampen

Spending time in the ocean, cooking, helping others.

• Currently completing a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy 

• 7th Elite Females Coolangatta Gold Long Course 2022

• 3rd Open Belt Race at Aussies 2022

• 3rd u19 Surf Race QLD championships 2021

• 2021 National Finalist for 100 and 200 backstroke

• 3rd u19 Coolangatta Gold Short Course 2021

• Top 10 in Open and u19 swim finals at the past three Aussies

• Open Finals in Swim, Ski, and Run Swim Run at Summer of Surf events. 

I grew up in Manning Point, a small town on the NSW coast. I started nippers at our closest club at age 8 and immediately fell in love with the sport. At the time I was also beginning competitive swimming, and dancing. I continued to run around between the three sports, but at the age of 15 I ultimately decided to focus mainly on competitive swimming. I continued to do surf lifesaving on the side, but around all the swim sessions, it ultimately was pushed to the side, to the point where I had stopped ski paddling, and nearly stopped the sport in general.

At the age of 18, I moved away from home, and made the long trip up to my new home on the Gold Coast, to focus on university and competitive swimming. It was a massive step going from such a small town to a much bigger place. Thankfully I had my brother up on the GC who supported me the whole way and still continues too. At this time, I joined Bond swimming and Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club which I’m lucky enough to call my second family. After giving competitive swimming a good chance from 2020 onwards, in February 2022 I decided it was time to hang up the goggles and go back to my first love of surf lifesaving. This changed my life for the better and I’m grateful every day that I made that decision. Being a part of such an incredible club of Surfers Paradise really made the decision easier, and to this day I feel incredibly lucy to call that group my family. In my first year of purely focusing on SLS, I got 3rd in the Open Female Belt Race at Aussies, I completed the Coolangatta Gold long course, raced in my first Nutri-Grain trials and many different carnivals and was firing up for Aussies in Perth. Unfortunately, an unlucky moment at training 8 weeks out from Aussies meant I needed surgery on my foot and was forced to miss the remainder of the season. I am now in my last year of my Occupational Therapy degree and am on the comeback and taking the slow steps in the rehab process, but am eager, determined, and motivated to get back to training to make this my best season yet.