At the British Short Course Grand Prix, UBC Thunderbird Annamay Pierse lowered her own world record in the women's 200 breast. Meanwhile, Canada's men's team broke the 800 free relay global standard thanks to a team-leading effort by former T-Bird Brent Hayden.
Pierse smoked the course with a 2:16.83 to lower her world record of 2:17.50 set in March. Pierse used a strong final 50 to become the first women to go under 2:17.00. She also holds the long course world record at 2:20.12.
Fellow T-Birds
Martha McCabe (2:23.23) and
Hanna Pierse (2:24.63) completed the top three.
The Canadian foursome of Colin Russell (1:43.60), Stefan Hirniak (1:43.41), Brent Hayden (1:41.49) and Joel Greenshields (1:42.55) took the world record in the men's 800 free relay with a time of 6:51.05. The swim destroyed the 6:52.66 set by Australia in 2007. Kirk Palmer (1:43.12), Grant Hackett (1:42.75), Grant Brits (1:44.01) and Kenrick Monk (1:42.78) came together for the former global mark.
Canada's Tanya Hunks, who trains out of the UBC Aquatic Centre as part of the National Swim Centre, opened the night with a winning time of 8:22.75 in the women's 800 free. Cassandra Patten finished second in 8:30.96, while Canada's Lindsay Seemann took third in 8:31.31.
Canada's Paul Kornfeld took a run at Cameron van der Burgh's world record of 56.88 in the men's 100 breast, but settled for a scorching time of 57.10. The performance bested the Canadian record of 58.48 set by T-Bird Scott Dickens in March and is the top short course time by any swimmer from the Americas. Brazil's Henrique Barbosa placed second in 58.13, lowering Felipe Lima's national record of 58.86 set last year. Mathieu Bois of Canada claimed third in 58.22.
Fran Halsall raced to victory in the women's 50 fly with a time of 25.44 to smash her national record of 26.10 set last year. Canada's Victoria Poon placed second in 25.87, downing her record of 26.21 from March, while Audrey Lacroix took third in 26.24.
Hayden snagged the men's 100 free title in 46.33 while Craig Gibbons took second in 47.33.
