Will Kelly achieves national qualifying time at NSW Open Water Championships

He floated around in the finish area before with anticipation before finding out he'd completed the five kilometre swim at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in a time of one hour, six minutes and 23 seconds.

That put him 37 seconds under the necessary mark for the 16s and 17s years age group - a swim paced to perfection.

Kelly, 16, is quickly carving out a promising career in his newfound open water campaigns, making great progress in just over a year.

He'd enjoyed plenty of success in his earlier junior years with triathlon but his adventures in the world of swimming are taking him to new heights, including his recent NSW Senior State Age Championships campaign.

The Bathurst Swim Club 2020 point score champion said he had no clue how close he'd come to the qualifying time when the five kilometres were over.

"I'm very happy with how I went. I didn't think I'd do as well as I did. I was really surprised," he said.

"My approach was to go out there, have a bit of fun and see how I'd go. I wanted to try and stick with the guys who I thought would be around my pace, but I wasn't thinking about going to nationals.

"I got to the end, slapped to board to stop the clock, sat back in the water and just hoped that I'd put in a decent time. I had not a single clue in the world about how I was going because I didn't have anything to gauge it off.

Swimmers were given a second chance to take part in the NSW Open Water Championships after they were moved from their originally scheduled date on December 20, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In that time Kelly had continued his regular training with the Bathurst Swim Club while taking some time out to get in whatever open water practice he could.

"All my swimming is done in the pool except for the occasional swim at the dam," Kelly said.

"I'll be stepping up training between now and nationals. I'll be doing a lot of strength training and getting lots of kays in my arms."

Kelly had produced a great result last year at the state event but believes he's made great strides in the 12 months since.

"I only really started doing open water last year when I did my first major event, and that was at state. I qualified for nationals there but nationals wasn't really available to go to at that time," he said.

"It's only this year where I really started to get properly into it."

The 2021 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships will be taking place at their new timeslot of March 13 and 14 March at Lake Kawana in Queensland, on the Sunshine Coast.

Swimming Australia was forced to postpone the nationals due to COVID-19 related border closures, with the Championships originally penned in for January 29 to 31 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith.