
Laura Quilter on returning to competitive swimming, coaching herself, and keeping it fun
From Swim Chats by Shona Riddell
January 4, 2026 · 44 min · Season 2 · Episode 1
About this episode
Laura Quilter discusses her return to competitive swimming, self-coaching, and maintaining a fun approach to the sport.
Laura Quilter is a Masters and Ice Swimming world record holder, a competitive sprint swimmer, and runs a strength and swim coaching business called Aura Move. Laura retired from competitive swimming (butterfly and freestyle) in 2016, in her mid-20s. Eight years later she discovered that she was faster than ever and qualified for her first World Aquatics Championships. Unusually for a competitive swimmer, she coaches herself. Laura's how-to videos on Instagram have inspired a following of 70K and led to her offering virtual and in-person strength and swim coaching via Aura Move. In this episode we talk about returning to competitive swimming in her 30s, her strength training, her experiences at the NZ Ice Swimming Champs (breaking four world records in 2024), coaching her dad in his first competitive swim event, and approaching swimming with a spirit of curiosity, adventure, and fun. Visit Laura's Aura Move website Follow Laura @Auramovenz on Instagram * Support the podcast via Patreon.com/SwimChats Follow Swim Chats on Instagram Hit 'Follow' so you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening! :-)
People in this episode
Host: Shona Riddell
Guest: Laura Quilter
Topics covered
- competitive swimming
- coaching
- strength training
- Masters swimming
- fun in sports
Keywords
- Masters swimming
- Ice Swimming
- world record
- coaching
- strength training
- competitive swimming
- fun
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Aura Move
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