'Happy' swimming star drops live TV f-bomb as 'crazy' reality hits

Teenage para-swimmer Declan Budd was elated with his performance on Monday night, having punched his ticket to the world para-swimming championships in Singapore later this year.

So elated, in fact, he dropped a cheeky f-bomb in his pool-side chat with Nine following the 200m freestyle multi-class final at the Australian swimming trials in Adelaide.

He finished second to Jack Ireland, who led from start to finish with a time of 1:54.38.

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Budd finished with a time of 1:56.19. Darren Sisman was next to the wall at 1:57:78.

Nine commentator Brenton Speed revealed Budd, 17, was initially eyeing off the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics, but his rapid improvement now sees him on the plane for the 2025 world para-swimming championships.

Watch the 2025 Australian swimming trials live and free on Nine and 9Now, taking place from June 9-14.

And Budd was certainly excited by the news when he was interviewed pool-side in the aftermath.

"It was just crazy, I don't know," he told Cate Campbell.

"I don't really know how to explain it.

"F--kin' happy, you know."

"This morning I had a pretty good heat swim. Had to fix my race plan, but it worked out pretty good."

His parents cheered him on from the crowd, and certainly seemed willing to overlook the surprise f-bomb.

Ian Thorpe was extremely happy for Budd, especially getting the chance to race against someone he idolised in Ireland.

"He's the story. It's an interesting point in sport when you race against your heroes," Thorpe told Nine.

Fellow Olympic champion Arianne Titmus was excited to welcome the latest Dolphin to the ranks.

"You dream of becoming a Dolphin and it finally happened for him tonight," she said.

The world para-swimming championships will be held in Singapore from September 21-27.