Bermuda’s young swimmers produced an outstanding team performance on the opening night of the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Vancouver, shattering the Bermuda 15—18 mixed 4×100m medley relay record while competing against some of the major powers in world swimming.

Connor Hupman, Teagan Mewett, Logan Jones and Katherine Wheddon combined to record a time of 4min 15.54sec, slashing an extraordinary 1:3.21 off the previous Bermuda record of 5:18.75, which had stood since December, 2017.

The quartet finished eighth in a race won by Japan ahead of the United States. Their time was also 3.83 faster than Bermuda’s entry time of 4:19.37.

Hupman led the team off with a 59.35 backstroke, before Mewett produced a 1:15.56 breaststroke leg. Jones followed with a 58.79 butterfly split before Wheddon anchored Bermuda home with a 1:01.84 freestyle leg.

National coach Ben Smith praised the way the young Bermuda team responded to the opportunity to race on the international stage.

“This was an awesome performance from four young swimmers who were prepared to step up and compete for Bermuda,” Smith said.

“When you come to Junior Pan Pacs, you are lining up alongside countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan and Canada, some of the biggest swimming nations in the world.

“We know the size of our programme compared with theirs but our swimmers didn’t allow that to intimidate them. They got behind the blocks, represented Bermuda with pride and raced.”