Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship holders Brenton Rickard and Belinda Hocking have capped off outstanding years by being named the 2009 AIS Male and Female Swimmer of the Year.

Twenty-six year old Brenton Rickard broke the world record to win gold in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 2009 FINA World Swimming Championships.

The Gold Coast resident’s outstanding performance was named Swimming Australia’s Speedo Golden Moment of the Year.

Belinda Hocking broke the 200-metre backstroke Australian short course record at the Australian national championships in Hobart then broke it a second time, while competing in the World Cup series, in a time of 2:02.60.

Head coach of the AIS Swimming program, Shannon Rollason paid tribute to both swimmers.

‘Brenton has once again had a wonderful year, his performance in winning gold at last year’s world championships in Rome was one of Australia’s great sporting moments of 2009,’ Rollason said.

‘Belinda is a young swimmer whose career continues to improve through hard work and a good work ethic. The two Australian short course records that she set last year are just the beginning of what I believe will be a promising career in the pool.’

The other AIS Swimming award winners were:

• Individual Medley Swimmer of the Year — Alicia Coutts
• Breaststroke Swimmer of the Year — Brenton Rickard
• Backstroke Swimmer of the Year — Ashley Delaney
• Butterfly Swimmer of the Year — Felicity Galvez
• Freestyle Swimmer of the Year — Sally Foster
• Rookie of the Year — Tommaso D’Orsonga
• Outstanding Performance of the Year — Tarnee White (Southwell)