New Bermuda Swimming Records Set In Qatar
The FINA World Swimming Championships continue in Qatar, and the Bermuda records continue to tumble.
Coach Richard Goodwin said, “In the 50 meter butterfly event, Roy-Allan Burch swam to a new Bermuda record of 0:24.26, slicing 7/10ths of a second off his previous record of 0:24.98 set in 2012 in Bermuda. In heat 5 of a total of 15, Burch was off the starting block quickly, stroking his way to the turn in 0:11.27 seconds.
“The field then split and Burch had clear water in the outside lane of the pool, coming home in 0:12.99 seconds for a second place finish in his heat. This put him in a tie for 48th place out of a field of 140 swimmers.
“This is not an event that Burch competes on a regular basis, nor one that he even trains very often. It is evident that his overall fitness level continues to improve and it was his ability and experience that allowed him to make an easy transition into butterfly from his mainstream freestyle training.
“I am left to wonder how much faster he could go in butterfly if he was to train the stroke on a regular basis.
“It was then the turn of Julian Fletcher to compete in the 200 meter breaststroke. Immediately prior to the start, Julian experienced every swimmer’s worse nightmare, as his google strap snapped. Electing to swim without goggles and the resulting poor vision; Fletcher nevertheless rose to the occasion and produced another outstanding swim of 2:16.25.
“Relying strictly on stroke count as his main guide; Julian was able to set the pace throughout the race, as he won his heat, the second of six. He stripped a massive 3.71 seconds off of his previous record of 2:19.96 set in Bermuda in 2012 and placed 35th out of a field of 54.
“Julian was naturally concerned that he had to swim without his goggles, but what I particularly liked was that he was not going to let that disrupt his effort. He knows he can go even faster and when everything does work in his favour, I know we can expect to see another dramatic drop in time.
“In a meet that has already produced six World records in 2 days, it is evident that all swimmers came to this meet prepared and determined to do their best. I am pleased to see and report that the Bermuda swimmers are in exactly that mode.
“Our participation in the meet concludes tomorrow with Roy-Allan swimming the 100 freestyle and Julian competing in the 50 breaststroke.”
Fantastic news gentlemen. Continue to do your best and the medals will come.