Age Records Fall On Day Two Of 2025 New Zealand Championships

2025 NEW ZEALAND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, May 21st – Sunday, May 25th
• Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre
• Meet Central
• Swimming NZL World Championships Selection Criteria
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries/Results
• Livestream

Day two of the 2025 New Zealand Swimming Championships was on the subdued side, with no additional swimmers logging World Championships-worthy performances.

However, we did see two New Zealand National Age Records, one on the men’s side and one on the women’s.

Racing in the final of the men’s 200m backstroke, 16-year-old Ariel Muchirahondo tied the national age benchmark of 2:01.89 en route to silver.

He touched behind winner Kane Follows, the 27-year-old Neptune Swim Club swimmer who notched gold in 1:58.39. That result was just .32 outside the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 1:58.07 needed for Singapore.

Follows owns the New Zealand national record in this event, courtesy of the 1:57.13 he put on the books last year.

The women’s age record that bit the dust came in the 50m breaststroke, with 17-year-old Monique Wieruszowski getting it done for gold in 31.24.

She handily defeated the field, with Zyleika Pratt-Smith next to the wall over a second later in 32.66 followed by North Shore’s 14-year-old Channell Huang who rounded out the podium in 33.32.

Wieruszowski has been quicker than her 31.24 performance, owning the senior national record of 30.38 from when she was 16 years of age at this same time last year.

Additional winners tonight included Milana Tapper of St. Peter’s Swim Club grabbing women’s 100m free gold in 54.94 while Carter Swift accomplished the same feat in the men’s race in 49.07.

Georgina McCarthy topped the women’s 200m back podium in 2:13.59 to win by nearly 2 seconds and the men’s 50m breast saw Hara Hughes hit 28.28 nab the top spot.