North Shore swimmer qualifies for World Junior Championships

North Shore swimmer Yeonsu Lee proved to be the star of the first night of the 2015 Mayfair Pools New Zealand Age Group Championships in Wellington.

The championships at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre also double as the official trial for swimmers to gain selection for the biennial World Junior Championships in Singapore and the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa.

Lee, 16, was the only swimmer to go under the qualifying time for the FINA World Junior Championships tonight taking out the 200m freestyle for her age group.

Her time of 2:03.06, just under the qualifying time of 2:03.09, was a surprising but pleasing result for the young swimmer.

“It was really good, I haven’t trained that much freestyle and I wasn’t really looking for much just a good PB would be good enough but seeing that time on the board I was really stoked and I couldn’t believe it, ” Lee said. “I can’t even describe how I felt.”

Her win also taking away some pressure for her favoured 200m butterfly later in the week.

“I was planning to qualify for world juniors in that race but I guess I can just relax and get some medals for club points now.”

Lee continued her winning ways in the 400m individual medley winning in 4:58.88, more than 20 seconds ahead of her closest rival Ruby Matthews of Otumoetai in 5:19.04.

Also enjoying a golden double tonight were Chelsey Edwards (SwimZone Racing, Wellington) and Gina McCarthy (ACE, Waikato).

Edwards, 13, won both the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly while McCarthy, 12, claimed titles in the 100m breaststroke and 400m individual medley.

The only male to bring home two gold medals on the first night was Ikko Shibuya (Laser Mt Eden, Auckland) who won the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly for the 13 years age group.

In other standout swims Josh Gilbert and Michael Pickett who broke New Zealand Age Group records in the 13 years 100m breaststroke and the 12 years 50m butterfly respectively.

In the men’s 17-18 years 200m freestyle 2014 Youth Olympic swimmer Michael Mincham clinched the title ahead of North Shore’s Wilrich Coetzee.

Mincham’s fellow Youth Olympic teammate Jacob Garrod (North Shore) won in the men’s 17-18 years 100m breaststroke while Millie Macdonald (Parnell) claimed honours in the women’s event.

Also on the podium tonight was Rebekah Bradley (United, Auckland), who attended the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, winning the 17-18 years 50m butterfly ahead of St Peter’s swimmer Paige Flynn.

The 4x100m freestyle regional relay honours for the 15 years and under went to Canterbury West  Coast in both the men’s and women’s event.

In the 4x100m freestyle club relay honours for 16 and over went to Howick Pakuranga in the men’s event and Auckland’s United club in the women’s event.

The competition runs from Tuesday 5 May to Saturday 9 May. Heats sessions are from 9am daily with the finals each day from 6pm.

CAPTION: Yeonsu Lee qualifies for the 2015 FINA Junior World Championships in the 200m freestyle.

The image is free for editorial use. Credit: BW Media

NZ Age Groups