Boyle sets world record in Wellington swim meet
10 August 2014, 6:50AM
Swimming New Zealand
Lauren Boyle (file photo). Credit: Ian Macnicol
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lauren Boyle has set a new world record at the Wellington Winter Championships today.
Boyle, preparing for this month’s Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast, has broken the 1500m freestyle world record at the short course championships.
She clocked 15:22.68 in a superb solo swim which more than four seconds under the previous record set by Mareia Belmonte Garcia late last year at the Spanish Short Course Championships.
Boyle, who won gold and silver medals in Glasgow, went through the 800m mark in 8:08.05.
She will contest the 1500m freestyle on the final day of the Pan Pacific Championships where she will go up against a strong field including American teenager Katie Ledecky who recently broke the long course world record over the distance in 15:34.23.
Her record will be subject to ratification by the world body FINA following a mandatory doping test and an official survey of the pool at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre.