Records Continue to Tumble at State Insurance Age Group Swimming

The records continued to tumble on the third night of finals at the State Insurance New Zealand Age Group Short Course Championships in Wellington.

A further seven records were broken tonight to bring the total to 16 so far at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in Kilbirnie.

The outstanding Christchurch swimmer Sophia Batchelor continued on her record-setting blitz with two more today to bring her personal tally to seven national records in three days.

The 15 year old from the AquaGym Club took more than a second off the previous record in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:58.25 and later took half a second off the 100m backstroke clocking 50.05.

Howick Pakuranga star Corey Main made the biggest breakthrough tonight, setting a new record in the boys 15 years 100m freestyle. Main’s time of 51.04 took half a second off the mark held by former Olympian John Steel which had stood for 23 years.

Papakura’s Joshua Asplin set a new mark in the 13 years 50m butterfly in 27.24, while Kaiapoi’s Natasha Lloyd continued to display her outstanding potential in breaststroke to take nearly two seconds off the record for 14 years 200m breaststroke clocking 2:31.35.

New Zealand representative Nathan Capp (Greerton) went under the 4min 20sec barrier clocking 4:19.91 to take more than three seconds off the previous record for 17 year olds while Nicholas Gillum (Tawa) broke Capp’s record for 16 years, stopping the watches in 4:25.13.

The championships continue until Thursday.