World Champion breaks record in Australian State Age

Despite an exhausting schedule, junior world champion Gabrielle Fa’amausili established a national record on day two of the Australian State Teams Age competition in Canberra.

A 39-strong New Zealand team has been invited to the three-day short course meet for the first time, with the competition comprising a mix of rapid-fire individual events and team races.

Fa’amausili, 15, has recently completed the junior world championships followed closely by the Youth Commonwealth Games, before crossing the Tasman for the short course event.

She finished second in the 50m backstroke in 27.04 to break her own national age record by over 0.2s. The United Club swimmer also finished fourth fastest in the 100m freestyle (55.97) and second in the 100m backstroke (59.41).

Northland’s Callum Prime, 15, was in excellent form yesterday, finishing second in the 100m backstroke (57.79) in the morning session and second in the 200m backstroke in the evening programme (2:01.84).

Other Kiwis to be prominent included Greta Agnew (United), 14, who was second in the 200m backstroke (2:16.38) and clubmate Kyla Alexander, 14, who was second in the 50m backstroke (29.07).

Dunedin’s Caitlin Deans (Neptune), 15, was third in the 800m freestyle (8:44.84) and fourth in the 400m individual medley (4:55.65).

The final session is today at the Australian Institute of Sport pool in Canberra.