New Zealand swimmer earns world championship title
Southland swimmer Natalie Wiegersma is on top of the world.
Wiegersma has won the 100m backstroke title at the inaugural Fina World Youth Championships in Brazil last night.
The 16-year-old set a New Zealand age group record of 1:02.41 in winning the championship in Rio de Janeiro. She sliced nearly a full second off the 10-year-old record held by Lydia Lipscombe and set the fastest time ever by any New Zealand age group swimmer.
“It’s a remarkable and outstanding performance,” New Zealand Swimming director of coaching Clive Rushton said. “We set the qualifying for this event at 18 year international levels, so to qualify for it as a 16-year-old was very good.
“We felt if any of these swimmers could make a final it would be excellent, and a medal would be well beyond expectation because they are all so young.
“For Natalie to make this quantum jump in time and to win a world championship title is just incredible. It is extraordinarily exciting for her, for Southland who have such a good programme and for New Zealand Swimming.”
Mr Rushton said it showed the benefit of such a major international meet in the development of a swimmer.
“Until now Natalie has swum in the Australian age groups. The opportunity to be immersed in this level of competition has brought out the absolute best in her.”
Wiegersma has taken 1.5 seconds off her previous best at the championships.
She was in second place at the turn but overcame Russia’s Anastasia Zueva in the final 50m.
Earlier Auckland 16-year-old Kurt Bassett finished seventh in the final of the 100m backstroke, clocking 58.08s, just outside the New Zealand record he set in the semifinal.
The small New Zealand contingent has also found their third finalist with Bassett’s fellow Mt Eden clubmate Orinoco Faamausili-Banse-Prince finishing third in his semifinal and seventh fastest to qualify for the final of the 50m freestyle.
Banse set a New Zealand age group record clocking 23.81s, under the previous record set by Ben Pickersgill-Brown in 2003.
Day 3 finals result:
100 m backstroke: Natalie Wiegersma (NZL) 1:02.41, 1 (NZ Age record); Anastasia Zueva (Rus) 1:02.83, 2; Yanxin Zhou (Chn) 1:03.10, 3.
100m backstroke: Kurt Bassett 58.08, 7th.
Semifinals:
50m freestyle: Orinoco Faamausili-Banse-Prince 23.81, 7th (NZ Age record).
