Engineering runs through Ariel Muchirahondo‘s very core.
Whether focusing on the mechanics of his stroke in his burgeoning swimming career, or building a workable mini lighthouse model for a school project, the 17-year-old New Zealander’s systematic approach is proving key to his early successes both in the classroom and in the pool.
Talking to Olympics.com in a video call from his home in Rotorua, the school kid who broke three New Zealand Age Group records at the 2025 national championships, qualifying for the World Junior Championships the same year in the process, said with a smile: “I guess engineering requires close attention to detail and also swimming is very technical.”
Focusing on getting the strokes correct at this early stage in his career is key to success in the multiple events in which he competes, but patience isn’t necessarily a virtue in teenagers.
Muchirahondo however, shows a maturity beyond his years as he eyes progression in the global junior rank, with the next steps the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Vancouver in August, and then the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in October, selection subject to ratification.
Alongside him for the ride is coach Aidan Withington who moved to the town of 78,000 people, from the nation’s capital city of Wellington, population 209,000, in 2019 to work at Rotorua Swimming Club.
Coaching relationship key say Ariel Muchirahondo and Aidan Withington
“I’ve actually been working with Ariel since he was 10,” said Withington in a separate call with Olympics.com about honing a love of technique and understanding in his talented charge.
“When he was about 12 or 13, his freestyle was actually quite a mess and we’d been trying to change it for quite a while. I was explaining what we’re trying to do with it and then he was like, ‘I understand what you’re trying to do but if I do that, it feels like I can’t get over the front of my stroke’,” said Withington.
Muchirahondo shares that it took a long time to perfect the change in his freestyle technique.
“I’ve got really long arms, and instead of utilising them to their full potential, I just slipped and didn’t get as much pull as I could potentially get,” he told us.
“It took about two to three years to actually get that correct.”
Two to three years?
There can’t be many teenagers who have the foresight to understand the long-term benefits of change, instead of chasing the now, but Muchirahondo has longevity in the sport in mind, and recent results indicate the hard work is paying off.
Ariel Muchirahondo eyeing success at home from home, Dakar 2026
At the 2026 Australian Age Swimming Championships (50m) in April, Muchirahondo finished the men’s 400m medley in a time of 04:17.62, a mark that would have seen him just off the podium in fourth at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 2018, at the same pool.
The student and his coach are making great strides in the sport despite limited facilities. Training in an outdoor pool during the New Zealand winter, with air temperatures of 3°C (37.4°F) being one of them.
Thankfully, Rotorua’s natural thermal springs, for which the region is famed, warm the water, but you have to be disciplined to even step out into the frigid air on a daily basis.
Ariel’s current week showcases his juggling act involving school and training.
“On a Monday morning I’ll have a double session from 6am-8am, and then school. And then an afternoon session and try to get to bed as early as possible.
“This week I’ve had the school engineering competition, so Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ve been getting home quite late, so it’s been pretty tough waking up early and going to bed at 10-11pm. But it’s still great to do that and have something else to focus on and have another competition to do outside of swimming.
“Then Wednesday morning, Tuesday are single sessions, I just swim in the morning those days and then Thursday afternoon, and then another double Friday and then Saturday morning.”
And then presumably relax on Sunday?
“I have a part-time job where I work maybe five or six hours a week on Sunday,” said Muchirahondo of working in a cafe.
That’s quite the week for anyone, let alone a growing teen, but Muchirahondo has quite the inspiration – French swimmer Leon Marchand.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/dakar-2026-rising-stars-engineering-mindset-new-zealand-teen-ariel-muchirahondo-swimming
