Boyle and World Champions Lead Line-Up for State NZ Short Course Swimming

Triple world championship medallist Lauren Boyle returns to the competition pool for the State New Zealand Short Course Championships at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre starting on Sunday.

Boyle will be joined by Paralympics NZ world champions Sophie Pascoe, Mary Fisher and Nikita Howarth, the rest of the State AquaBlacks swim team as well as world junior champion Gabrielle Fa’amausili. They are among nearly 4000 event entries from 88 clubs including four from Australia for the five day meet.

Boyle had a short break after her world championship and world cup successes in Europe before returning to training on a lighter schedule which has included activity out of the water.

“For the past four weeks I’ve just been easing back into the swimming but we have been doing some cross training – spinning on the bike and circuits down in the weight room so it hasn’t been specifically swimming focused,” said Boyle.

The 25 year old is approaching the competition without expectations after her record-breaking feats on the world cup circuit just six weeks ago.

“I set some really fast times after the world champs and I have no idea how close or far away I’ll be from those, but I’m swimming lots of different events. I’m doing nine races including breaststroke, butterfly and medley just to do something different,” she said.

Swimmers compete in each age group in the morning, with the fastest 10 overall to contest the open finals in the evening programme.

The championships that conclude on Thursday October 3 will be followed by the inaugural Swimming New Zealand Zonal Championship.

The one-day competition comprises four zone teams, each including 20 swimmers 15 years and under and 20 swimmers 16 years and over. The competition will pit the best of each age group from throughout the country in a quick-fire format on Friday 4 October.

Live streaming of the championships will be available at www.swimmingnz.org.nz/events/live-streaming-on-demand-viewing.