2025 NZ APOLLO PROJECTS AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS
- 13-17 April 2025
- Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatics Centre
- Results
- NZ Records (as of 05/06/25)
Several New Zealand Age Group records went down at the recent Apollo Projects Age Group Championships, held on 13-17 April in Hawke’s Bay. Chief among the record breakers was 16-year-old Ariel Muchirahondo, who broke records in the 200 IM (2:04.08), 400 IM (4:21.99) and 200 fly (2:00.02) at the meet.
The last of those was a huge one, breaking Olympic Champion Danyon Loader‘s mark of 2:01.33 by over a second and nearly breaking the 2-minute mark in the process. Loader would go on to win Olympic silver just four months after he set that record at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
The Rotorua swimmer also hacked two seconds off the previous record in the 400 IM, and made the grade in multiple events for the World Juniors that will be held in Romania this summer. He qualified in five events; the 200 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 free and 100 backstroke.
You can read more about Muchirahondo and his swimming journey here.
Grayson Coulter, now aged up into the 13-year age group, went about rewriting the record books in multiple events as well. Having made headlines last year when becoming the fastest 12-year-old in history in the 200 free with a time of 1:54.40, nearly five seconds ahead of the next best, he set seven new records for the 13-year-old age group here.
That included the 50 free (24.66, which he went twice), 100 free (52.62), 200 free (1:54.80), 400 free (4:08.49), 50 fly (26.58), 100 fly (57.56) and 200 IM (2:14.96). His personal bests in the 50 free (24.53), 200 free (1:54.40) and 200 IM (2:11.16) are all faster than he went in Hawke’s Bay so he will have plenty more record-breaking swims in store for the future.
More records came in the 13-year-old age group from Phoenix Aquatics swimmer Michael Yang, who swept the breaststroke events and set records in all three. He went times of 31.14, 1:07.25 and 2:25.85, hacking two seconds off the previous 200 record.
Te Rauroha Paki set the 14-year-old record in the men’s 200 backstroke with a swim of 2:07.25, adding to the 100 backstroke record that he set earlier this year. He was just outside his standard of 58.72 in the latter event with a swim of 58.81 as he dominated his age group, the only 14-year-old under both 2:10 and 1:00.
The final record was in the same age group as Muchirahondo, making it a total of four new records for the 16-year-olds. Phoenix Aquatics had another record-setter in Shen Bruce, who had been the runner up in the 100 back behind the Rotorua Aquatics swimmer. He downed Corey Main’s 50 back record in a time of 26.14, slicing nearly a second off his entry time of 27.02.
16-year-old Sayer Rylee also nailed World Junior Para qualification in the women’s multi-class 50 fly, with a mark of 37.94 enough to stamp a ticket for the S7 swimmer, and she added a berth in the 100 fly as well. Behind her in the 50 Charlotte Murphy nailed a new S6 National Record of 53.54 to take bronze.
Ariella Riley was the winningest swimmer for the women, taking home five golds and a silver in the 16-year-old age group.
