Erika Braun Breaks Masters 50-54 National Record in 100-Meter Breast (1:21.34)

2023 St. Pete Masters LCM Swim Meet

• July 7-9, 2023
• North Shore Pool
  • St. Petersburg, Florida
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results on MeetMobile: “2023 St. Pete Masters LCM Swim Meet”

51-year-old masters swimming star Erika Braun took down the American record in the 100-meter breaststroke for the 50-54 age group on Saturday, clocking a 1:21.34 to bring the standard under 1:22 for the first time.

Braun was out in 38.44 and back in 42.90 to beat the previous national mark of 1:22.09 set by fellow North Carolina Masters Swimming standout Sara Dunn last August. She now owns six LCM records in the 50-54 age group along with standards in the 50 free (27.13), 100 free (1:00.53), 50 back (32.30), 50 breast (36.47) and 50 fly (world-record 29.47) along with today’s 100 breast record.

Braun still has a ways to go to scare the 100 breast masters world record of 1:15.44 posted by Britain’s Helen Gorman last June, but she’s much closer in other events. She already holds the world record in the 50 fly, and her 50 free American record of 27.13 from last month was just .04 seconds off the world record from 2015.

Braun had already set four SCY American records earlier this year (50 breast, 100 breast, 100 fly, and 100 IM), and now she’s added two LCM marks to her list of 2023 accomplishments in the past three weeks alone.

Braun also went 27.75 in the 50 free on Saturday as well as 2:19.13 in the 200 free. On Sunday, she went 29.55 in the 50 fly, just .08 seconds off her own world record. Her 1:00.87 in the 100 free was only .34 seconds off her national standard. Braun also recorded a 1:09.52 in the 100 fly, a little less than two seconds off Jill Hernandez‘s American record from 2011.