His coach Harry Gallagher converted him to sprint freestyle events, and he bettered the Olympic record for 100 metres at the 1953 Australian national championships.

During that time, he won ten Australian individual championships in those events, two British Empire Games medals and establishing new records in 1954, the Japanese Nationals, the Keo Nakama meet in Hawaii, the Philippine Nationals, and broke two American records while on a visit in 1954.

As a freshman at USC, he teamed with Murray Rose, Don Reddington, Tom Winters and Denis Devine, a five-man freshman team that broke the New Haven Swim Club's dynastic grasp on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) indoor championships.

Henricks contracted a gastrointestinal ailment at the Olympics in Rome and was eliminated in Semi Final 2, finishing fourth.

[1] Henricks attended Fort Street Boys' High School in Petersham, NSW.