Stanley Sets New 200 Backstroke National Mark in Wellington

The New Zealand Short Course National Championships will run from September 2-6th in Wellington. The competition is the country’s trials for the 2014 Short Course Championships.

The qualifying time for each event is posted below

Although Matt Stanley had collected three gold and qualified for the 2014 Short Course World Championships team during the first three days of the 2014 New Zealand Short Course Championships he was not satisfied with his results, just missing on several national records. On the fourth day of competition that changed as he set a new national mark in the men’s 200 backstroke, winning the event in a time of 1:52.87.

“It’s funny because I haven’t trained backstroke ever and I do no practice in it. It’s just good fun to get out there and work hard on the underwater more than anything,” Stanley said.

He broke Cameron Stanly’s record of 1:53.59 which he set in 2009.

Three para-swimming world records were set during the fourth day of competition. 15 year old Nikita Howarth set a new world record for her classification in the 100 butterfly first in the prelims, 1:23.15, then again in the finals, 1:20.92.

“I’m pretty happy I wasn’t really expecting much, it was a hard race but I did well,” Howarth said.

Mary Fisher also broke a world record in the 100 butterfly for her classification posting a 1:15.82 in the prelims, electing not to swim in the final.

14 year old Bobbi Gichard won the 200 backstroke by three seconds posting a time of 2:07.38. Gichard destroyed the age group record in the event, breaking Sophia Batchelor’s 2009 record of 2:10.68.

Commonwealth and World Short Course champion Lauren Boyle competed in her first individual event of the competition, winning the 800 freestyle in a time of 8:21.86. Boyle had pre-qualified for the event, but had to compete in Wellington to make her appointment to the team official.