Island's trio set eight new records
[naviga:font color="BLUE"]Swimming: World Championships
[/naviga:font]Bermuda's competitors finished on a confidence-building high as the World Swimming Championships drew to an end in Rome, Italy over the weekend.
Female Athlete of the Year Kiera Aitken became the first Bermuda female to dip under 27 seconds in the 50 metres freestyle, clocking 26.83 in the preliminaries, a new national record. Her previous best was 27.1.
Nick Thomson then smashed the men's Bermuda record in the 50 free with a time of 28.47.
Earlier, on Thursday, Aitken had set a new 100m freestyle record – a mark she had shared with Eleanor Gardner – clocking 56.99.
On Friday, Thomson reached his goal of being the first Bermudian in the 17-18 age group to swim 23 seconds.
His previous best at the Carifta meet was 24.49 but he recorded 23.64 in Rome.
Roy Allen Burch then set another record in 50m freestyle of 23.20 eclipsing his mark of 23.40. That time dipped under the Olympic qualifying time for last summer's Beijing Games.
National coach Ben Smith labelled the Worlds as "an amazing experience" for the Bermuda team which also included Rebecca Sharpe and Julian Fletcher.
"It was everything that the team could have hoped for with state of the art swimming facilities and beautiful hospitality. The results that were achieved at the meet were as impressive as the venue itself," said Smith.
"This was the fastest meet ever held with World records falling every day at a rate that exceeded the Olympic Games in Beijing.
"Our swimmers stood up against the best in the world and competed shoulder to shoulder with them.
"With a total of 17 swims from our five athletes we attained eight Bermuda records and two age group records.
"This meet has capped off one of the best swim seasons in Bermuda's swimming history.
"As the coach of the team I am very proud of the way the team handled the pressure and the way that they performed at this meet.
"It has been a long and productive season and I look forward to see what they will achieve next year after these results."
