Julian Fletcher set a Bermuda national record in the 200 metres breaststroke at the Canadian Olympic Trials last week.

The 25-year-old’s time of 2min 18.54sec was also a personal record. He finished fourteenth overall in the preliminary heats as he continues to try and qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

Fletcher was unable to meet the Olympic A or B standard in the 200 (2:11.04 and 2:16.27) at the meet, but will have several more opportunities to qualify.

“It always feels good to have success translate from training to racing,” said Fletcher, who finished eighteenth in the 100 preliminary heats in a time of 1:03.63, with the Olympic A and B standard 1:00.57 and 1:02.69.

“I’ve been racing consistently in the past year, and although I’m dropping time, I still have my eye on that qualifying standard.

“I can still envision improvement in the 200 breaststroke, as I made some errors that can be improved on.”

Fletcher, who swims for the Trojans Swim Club at the University of Southern California, will be in action this weekend at the Arena Pro Series at Mesa in Arizona.

The only way to guarantee an Olympic berth is to reach the A standard, but there is still a possibility of qualifying for Rio with the B standard, which FINA selects after the qualification period is over in June.

Also competing at the Canadian Olympic Trials was Bermuda’s Roy-Allan Burch, who was swimming competitively for the first time since rupturing his patella tendons in both knees in April last year.

Burch finished 38th overall in the 50 freestyle preliminary heats in 23.78.