Brant Daughtry
Great Bend Post Sports
Great Bend’s Austin Levingston has made a lot of history in his life. The local special Olympics athlete competes in multiple sports, and has a trophy case that would make many jealous. He’s won gold medal after gold medal since he started swimming competitively in high school.
Recently, he made another splash, winning five medals, including four golds, swimming at the 2026 Kansas Special Olympics Swimming championships in Topeka. Austin didn’t just win four competitions, he also came close to setting history in the 25-meter breaststroke and the 25-meter freestyle.
"There aren't really any record books for it, but I was just doing some research, and I was just wowed by how close I was to Larry Finney's times. He holds two of the fastest times ever recorded in Special Olympics history. So it's pretty neat. I was just looking up some stuff on that and I was shocked at how close I was to his times, and I'm probably his closest contender at this point."
Austin is right, there's no public record book to check to see how close he is, but the track record speaks for itself.
He's also not satisfied yet. Levingston also competes in golf, track and field, basketball, and others. His next competition will be a golf tournament in Wichita, all while also enrolled at Fort Hays State, where he'll continue classes in January. Ultimately though, he plans to compete on the world stage.
"I may never really get there, but I'm hoping I can get to the Olympic games in Los Angeles in 2028. I still have a lot of work to do, because my times aren't really that close yet. I'm getting there, but it's still gonna take some work."
Austin's next swim competition will take him to Europe, as he heads to the 2027 Open Masters World Games in Como Lake, Italy.