Standing on the blocks, with her powerful 1.85 metre-physique poised to dive into the pool at the recent World Aquatic Champs in Singapore, Laura Quilter had one of those pinch- me moments.
Lined up against competitors at least 13 years her junior, the 33-year-old was the second-oldest swimmer – and only self-coached female – to compete in the 50-metre butterfly and 50-metre freestyle events.
Gisborne-raised Laura thought she had long-stopped making waves in the international arena. She last wore the silver fern at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, retiring after not making the Rio Olympics in 2016. But after unexpectedly swimming better than ever at a New Zealand Masters Games, the registered nurse decided to make a comeback. It turned out age had brought a new perspective.
Back in the water
“The old dog’s come back,” laughs Laura, chatting from her home on Auckland’s North Shore, which she shares with fiancé Alex Lowen, 33.
“When I closed the book on swimming, it felt definitive. “But I read a quote from American Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, which inspired me: ‘The water doesn’t know how old you are.’ I never thought I’d be back racing. But I’m at a point in my life where swimming or winning isn’t my whole world any more. It’s so different compared to the pressure I felt when I was younger, of not hitting my goals. “I also like that I’m not accountable to any squad – it’s all on me. And in my thirties, I’m better at managing the fear and self-doubt. It’s just, ‘Okay, let’s see what I can do.’”
An unexpected comeback
While Laura didn’t progress from the heats at the World Champs, she produced a personal best of 25.08 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle – 0.76 of a second behind the fastest qualifier. Her return to competitive swimming came out of the blue two years ago.
“Because we don’t have many premier 50 metre-length pools in New Zealand, when one was built at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, I simply wanted to swim in it,” she explains.
“There happened to be a Masters Swimming Championships held there, so a bunch of mates and I went down. It was such a cool reintroduction to swimming – rocking up half an hour before my race
with not much preparation. And swimming quite well was entirely unexpected.”
Testing a new training formula
It sparked an experiment: could she swim a personal best in 50-metre freestyle at the Open Nationals with a different style of training?
“I wanted to challenge the old-school training load of about 10 swims a week followed by two to three gym sessions,” she explains.
So with fiancé Alex, who owns Lowen Physiotherapy & Performance, the pair came up with a plan for Laura that consisted of four swims a week and four gym sessions focusing on lifting high weights. Both were surprised when she ended up swimming faster than ever before.
Stronger in body and mind
“Going to the gym with Alex taught me I was capable of a lot more,” says Laura, who trained around her shifts as an urgent-care nurse and documented her journey with 67,000 followers on her Instagram account @auramove.nz.
“When I went to Masters, I wasn’t ‘swim fit’, but had muscle memory combined with so much more strength,” she says.
Witnessing Laura’s comeback at the Masters also inspired her 65-year-old father Murray to enter his first swim competition recently as a beginner.
“After Dad had an unexpected health scare last year, he half-joked to me, ‘Imagine if I did 50-metre freestyle at the 2025 Masters?’ I jumped on that so hard and designed a training programme for him! “Dad grew up on a farm and was only taught to swim by his brother in a river. But he became one of my most consistent clients. “It was special and I did not expect to be as nervous as I was watching his race. It was the coolest 40 seconds of swimming I’ve ever seen. And the lady in the lane next to him was 87!”
Love, laps, and a proposal
While Laura admits she’s tempted to try for the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games (“Wouldn’t that be a full-circle moment?”), for now wedding planning is taking priority. While hiking the West Coast’s rugged Heaphy Track at Easter, she and Alex, who met a decade ago through mutual friends, got engaged.
Tells Alex, “We had just finished the walk and typical Laura saw a river next to the hut and announced, ‘I’m going for a swim.’ She put her togs on and was in the middle of putting on her cap and goggles – I’m not sure who else brings those on an alpine hike – while I’m down on one knee, before she realised.”
Smiles Laura, “I quickly took off my goggles. He had even hiked with a little bottle of prosecco and kept the ring hidden in his sleeping bag the whole time! It’s been a year full of surprises.”
