Jesse Washington made history after becoming the first Bermuda swimmer to win a gold medal at the Canadian Age Group Championships in Quebec.

He won the boys’ 16 and under 200 metres freestyle in a time of 1min 55.41sec, setting a personal best and Bermuda age-group record.

It was an outstanding performance by Washington who said he had surpassed his expectations.

“Going into the race I wasn’t expecting to come out as the winner,” Washington said.

“In the warm-ups, I did all the splits that I had to do so I went in pretty confident but didn’t think I could put it all together.”

Washington was stunned after slashing two seconds off his previous fastest time.

“I didn’t expect to knock that much time off and that’s why I was so surprised,” he said.

“I got a personal best in that race which is my best achievement to date. That was really exciting and then when I found out that I got the national record by a few one hundredths — that was just like the icing on the cake.”

Washington also set a personal best of 53.12 in the 100 freestyle, where he narrowly missed out on the podium after being pipped at the wall for third.

Also making Bermuda proud at the meet was Washington’s compatriot, Emma Harvey, who captured the bronze in the girls’ 14 and under 100 butterfly in 1.03.77 and 50 backstroke in 31.11.