World champion leads the way at age group swimming championships

World junior champion Gabrielle Fa’amausili is among a talented group of the nation’s best up and coming swimmers to compete in the Mayfair Pools New Zealand Age Group Championships in Wellington next week.

More than 600 swimmers will compete in the five day championships from Monday at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre.

The championship also doubles as the official trial for swimmers to gain selection for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii in August this year.

Fa’amausili, the 50m backstroke world junior champion and record holder, will be competing along with several of her junior championship and Commonwealth Youth Games teammates.

This includes North Shore’s Wilrich Coetzee and Yeonsu Lee as well as Annabelle Paterson (United), Mario Koenigsperger (Howick Pakuranga) and Eliot Lundon-Moore (Aquabladz New Plymouth).

Fa’amausili won the 50m and 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle titles at the national championships two weeks ago while Coetzee was announced the overall emerging swimmer of the year for 2015 at the recent Swimming New Zealand Awards.

Also competing are members of the New Zealand team that won medals at the recent Australian Age Group Championships including 17 year old Hayley McIntosh (Northwave), 16 year olds Zac Reid (Aquabladz New Plymouth), 15 year old Mya Rasmussen (Kiwi West Aquatics, Manawatu), 14 year old Joshua Gilbert (Stratford) and 13 year old Gina McCarthy (Hillcrest).

The competition runs from Monday 18 April to Friday 22 April. Heats sessions are from 9am daily with the finals each day from 6pm.

The event will be live streamed for a subscription of $15 for the week. Live streaming is available here.