Bermuda's swimming sensation Kiera Aitken recorded two new national records at the Spanish Nationals in Mallorca last weekend, edging ever closer to the times which will earn her a spot at this year's Olympic Games.

Aitken posted personal best times and new records in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke.

In the 200m event she finished in sixth place with a time of 2:21.08, having lowered her previous best to 2:21.90 in the preliminary heats.

In her specialty, the 100m backstroke, she finished fifth overall with a time of 1:04.16.

This time placed her just three tenths of a second outside the Olympic qualifying mark, which is 1:03.86.

Aitken is now preparing to compete at the Dutch Caribbean Invitational Championships (DCI) in Curacao from April 30 to May 1.

The DCI is an Olympic qualifying competition and will give Aitken another chance to make the Beijing Games in August.

Bermudian swimmer Nathan Frick will join her in Curacao.

Frick was recently awarded "Rookie of the Year" at Wilfrid Laurier University after his highly successful first year on the varsity team.

He has also posted personal best times recently in the 50 and 100 metres freestyle at the OUA Championships.

Other members of the Dolphin Swim Club scheduled to compete at the DCI meet include Stephanie Myles, Benedict Parfit, Alexandra Myles and Amber Reid.

Kathy Cowen, head coach of the Dolphin team, said she was excited about her young swimmers getting international exposure.

"I am looking forward to participating at DCI," said Cowen. "It will be a great experience for some of the younger swimmers to parti-cipate at a competition of this level and witness Kiera's next Olympic attempt.

"I was Kiera's coach at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, where she qualified for Olympics the first time around and it would be a great honour to witness a repeat performance."