Jacob Story

Biography

Jacob Story is one of the most decorated young swimmers in Cook Islands history, combining exceptional versatility with consistent improvement across breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke disciplines. Still in his teenage years, he has risen rapidly through international competition to become a genuine Oceania-level medal contender and a multiple Cook Islands national record holder.

Story trained for much of his early international career with Mount Eden Swim Club in Auckland, New Zealand, before relocating to Australia to further his development ahead of the 2026 season. He made his World Aquatics Championships debut at the 2024 World Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest, setting a Cook Islands national record in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:17.91. He returned to the World Championships in Singapore in July 2025, competing in the 100m breaststroke (1:02.93) and the 200m breaststroke.

At the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau, Story delivered his most complete performance to that point, winning gold in the 200m breaststroke in a personal best of 2:13.71, alongside silver medals in the 100m and 400m individual medley and a bronze in the 50m breaststroke — four medals in total.

The 2026 14th Oceania Swimming Championships in Fiji marked the peak of his career to date. Story claimed two gold medals — in the 100m backstroke, setting a championship record with a personal best of 1:01.81, and in the 200m breaststroke — alongside a silver in the 50m breaststroke (28.82 PB) and a bronze in the 50m butterfly (24.95, a new Cook Islands national record). In recognition of this performance across four events, he was awarded the Roger Smith Award as the best male athlete of the championships. "I had a solid heat swim this morning so I knew I was going to win. Coming into the final I just wanted to work on what I did this morning and perfect the race so I could swim a bit faster tonight and I think I managed to do that."

Story holds Cook Islands national records across multiple events including the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke, the 50m butterfly, and the 200m and 400m individual medley. His willingness to compete across multiple stroke disciplines and his consistent record-breaking at successive international championships mark him as one of the most exciting aquatics talents to emerge from the Pacific Islands in recent years.

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