World record sparks national age group swim championships

North Shore swimmer Rebecca Dubber set a world Paralympic world record on the penultimate day of the Mayfair Pools New Zealand age group swimming championships in Christchurch last night.

The 16 year old clocked 11:21.66 in the 800m freestyle which is unofficially well inside the previous record of 11:36.43 for S7 class swimmers, with the record still to be ratified.

That was not the only highlight of the fourth day, with star of the championships, Sophia Batchelor adding a further two national age group records to her burgeoning list.

Batchelor, who swims for the Aqua Gym club in Christchurch under coach Leanne Speechly, took her tally to six with new records in the 50m backstroke and 100m butterfly for girls 14 years.

She was the only swimmer under the 30 second barrier in winning the 50m backstroke in 29.81 which was half a second inside her own national mark.

Batchelor also clocked 1:02.60 to win the 100m butterfly, edging her previous record by 25/100ths of a second.

The fastest in the 100m butterfly was Asburton’s Josie Kydd who won the 15 years honours in 1:01.85.

The championships finish today.

Full results: http://swimmingnz.org.nz/results/?mt_id=42