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Christchurch’s Sophia Batchelor eclipsed one of swimming’s oldest records on the third night of the Mayfair Pools national age group championships in Wellington tonight.

 

The 15 year old swimmer from the AquaGym club took out the 200m freestyle in 2:02.45 which broke the 1976 record of the great Rebecca Perrott by more than a second.

 

Batchelor, coached by Leanne Speechley, also broke a national record in the 100m backstroke, clocking 1:02.63. This earned 799 FINA points and was nearly a second inside the previous record.

 

There were three other records broken today including one in the morning heats.

 

Auckland’s Max Polianski, son of Olympic gold medallist and Swimming Hall of Famer Igor Polianski, was the fastest qualifier in the 14 years 50m butterfly. The United club swimmer clocked 26.42 to break the old record and then lowered it to 26.19s in winning the final. North Canterbury's Natasha Lloyd, the national elite champion in breaststroke, recorded 2:34.35 to edge out the previous record in the 15 years 200m, earning 748 FINA points in the process.

 

Other top swims came from 15 year old Samuel Perry St Peters Cambridge doubling gold in the 100m free and 50m fly, outstanding 16 year old Corey Main HPK in a strong 100m free, very talented 13 year old Hayden Church HPK in the 100m free and 50m fly, and an outstanding 400m IM by 15 year old Bradley Ashby from Hamilton.

 

The championships conclude on Saturday.

 

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