A slew of personal best times were broken on the first night of the Validus National Swimming Championships at the National Aquatics Centre last night.

In the 12 and under 400 freestyle, Pippa Charleson and Brandon Adkins had very strong personal bests, taking huge chunks off their previous marks to win the girls and boys events.

In the girls 800 freestyle, Taylor White, of Sharks, lowered her personal best and the 13-14 age-group record that she set at the Schroders Age Group Championships two weeks ago.

In the final event of yesterday evening, Brian Desmond broke the 1,500 metres freestyle record.

At the 800m mark he also set a record in the 800, by lowering Ethan Daley’s time by more than 12 seconds. He continued on his pace to also break his own 1,500 standard by 19 seconds.

“We are hoping that this great start is an indication of the great swimming to come this weekend,” Ben Smith, the Bermuda head coach, said.