NATIONAL swimmer Christian Nikles (pic) broke two 100m freestyle national records at the World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia, yesterday.
The 17-year-old swam the 100m freestyle in a time of 54.75s during the heats yesterday morning, which is 0.17s faster than his previous best time of 54.92s he swam during the 23rd Brunei Age Group Championships on April 19.
His time of 54.75s is a new national record as well as a new age group record for the 16-18 year old age group. According to national aquatic sports head coach Eric Landa, Nikles got to the half-way mark and turned with a time of 26.16s, to return in a time of 28.59s.
His time placed him 91st among the 115 swimmers in the 100m freestyle and 6.64s behind the fastest qualifier Ning Zetao of China, who swam 48.11s. The top-16 (the 16th best time was 48.93s) and semi-finals were to be contested later yesterday, with the final set for today.
Nikles will swim the 50m freestyle heats tomorrow. He is joined in Kazan by Tiara Shahril Anwar, who will get into action today in the 100m freestyle. Tiara will be aiming to break her national and age group record of 1.01.20 she set in March. She will also swim the 50m freestyle on Saturday.
