Fiji's future swimming stars have made a strong start to the 2026 Fiji National Schools Swimming Championships, with six records broken on the opening day of competition.
One of the standout performances came from Jai Narayan College's Grace Khelan, who set a new championship record in the 14 Years Girls 100 metres Butterfly with a time of 1 minute 8.62 seconds, breaking the previous mark of 1 minute 12.75 seconds set by Courtney Pene in 2008.
She represented Fiji at the Oceania Swimming Championship.
Nigel Simpson of Drasa Avenue School also broke two championship records.
He clocked 2 minutes 35.09 seconds in the Boys 9 to 10 Years 200 metres Freestyle to break the previous record of 2 minutes 36.51 seconds set by current Team Fiji swimmer Hansel McCaig in 2014.
Simpson then went on to set a new record in the Boys 9 to 10 Years 200 metres Backstroke with a time of 2 minutes 48.03 seconds, breaking the previous record of 3 minutes 7.87 seconds held by current Team Fiji representative Samuel Yalimaiwai since 2013.
Another record fell when Anetekini Croker of Veiuto Primary School won the 100 metres Breaststroke in 1 minute 18.73 seconds, breaking the previous championship record of 1 minute 19.09 seconds set by Samuel Yalimaiwai in 2016.
Drasa Avenue School also etched its name into the record books after breaking the Girls 200 metres Medley Relay record with a time of 2 minutes 22.62 seconds, surpassing the previous mark of 2 minutes 25.16 seconds set by International School Nadi in 2019.
Home-schooled swimmer Thaddeus Kwong also delivered a record-breaking performance in the 200 metres Freestyle, touching the wall in 2 minutes 2.77 seconds to break the previous championship record of 2 minutes 5.65 seconds set by Taichi Vakasama in 2017.
The competition concludes today.
