Mia Laban

Biography

Mia Laban is a versatile and prolific multi-stroke swimmer who has become one of the most decorated young competitors in Cook Islands aquatics. Specialising primarily in backstroke and butterfly, she also competes in freestyle and individual medley, and has made finals at Pacific and World-level championships across multiple disciplines. She trains with the Howick Pakuranga Swim Club in Auckland and has also been part of the World Aquatics Training Centre programme at Bond University on the Gold Coast.

Laban first came to national prominence at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, where she contributed multiple medals in backstroke, butterfly, and medley events. At the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest she made her World Championships debut, competing in the 100m backstroke and achieving a personal best of 1:04.96 — a performance that earned her Pakuranga College's Sportsperson of the Year award for 2024. At the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore she broke the sub-minute barrier in the 100m freestyle (59.95) and posted 1:05.41 in the 100m butterfly.

Her performance at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau was arguably her most complete to date. Laban maintained a perfect medal record throughout the competition, winning gold in the 100m backstroke (1:04.14), silver in the 100m individual medley (1:06.88), and bronze medals in the 50m backstroke, 100m butterfly, and 200m backstroke (2:18.94) — five medals across the meet. She has spoken of the pride she feels competing for Cook Islands: "It's always nice to wear my country's flag on my cap."

At the 2026 14th Oceania Swimming Championships in Fiji she continued to build, reaching multiple finals and posting personal bests of 1:07.51 in the 100m backstroke, 1:04.32 in the 100m butterfly, and 27.36 in the 50m freestyle. Her combination of consistent international experience, multi-stroke capability, and continued improvement at successive championships marks her as one of the most complete swimming talents in the Pacific.

Personal Bests