Bermuda's veteran swimmer, 70-year-old Chris Smith, snared a medal double at the Australian Masters Championships in the Sydney Olympic pool over the weekend.

Warwick resident Smith bagged a silver medal in his age division in the 50 metres freestyle yesterday when he clocked 34.18 seconds. The event was won by Max VanGelder of Sydney who set a new Australian record.

On Saturday the Bermudian, who also holds Canadian passport, won a bronze in the 400 metres freestyle.

Also in the 200 metres individual medley, he set a new Canadian age group record of 3:35.33 although he was was beaten by Graham Johnson of Texas who set his third world record of the meet, his 25th in the last two years.

So far there have been 14 world records broken, mostly by US, Australian and Canadian swimmers.

Smith is using the competition as a warm-up for the Worlds which start next week in Christchurch, New Zealand where there will over 3,000 of the world's top master swimmers.

After his bronze on Saturday in a race in which Johnston set another world record of 5:09.75 for the 70-74 age group, Smith said he was pleased with his time as it slashed nine seconds off his previous lifetime best.

"I have been back in swimming masters for 12 years now and I keep getting faster," he said. "For the 200s and over I am faster now than when I was a kid."

Smith attended Warwick Academy, Saltus Grammar School, then went to St Andrews College, north of Toronto, where he was captain of the swim team.