National swimmer Christian
Nikles. Picture: BT File

It was a good outing for national swimmer Christian Nikles at the 55th Malaysian Open Swimming Championships in Kuala Lumpur.

He set new national Open and Age-Group records in the men's 100-metre butterfly event with a time of 1:01:63 at the May 3-6 tournament.

His previous time was 1:02:04 set last week at the Singapore Grand Prix, which was held from April 27-29.

The 14-year-old also tied the national Open record in the 50m freestyle event with a time of 25.63s, which he set in Singapore last week as well.

Christian also competed in the 100m freestyle event where he finished with a time of 56.66s. His personal best still remains at 56.41s.

Eric Landa, the national swim coach, was delighted with the performance by his swimmer.

"After beating six records in Singapore last week, all of the times he swam in Kuala Lumpur this weekend had something to do with the number six (100m freestyle - 56.66s, 50m freestyle - 25.63s and 100m butterfly - 1:01:63). I guess that must have been his lucky number for this competition," said Landa.

Organised by the Malaysian Swimming Association, the FINA (International Swimming Federation) certified meet saw swimmers from 11 countries compete at the event.

Brunei sent four swimmers to the Singapore Grand Prix held at the Singapore Sports School last week.

The other swimmers that represented the Sultanate were Mohd Isa Ahmad, Nathaniel Nikles and Florence Sea.

Mohd Isa Ahmad swam to new national Open and Age-Group records in the men's 50m breaststroke with a time of 32.73s. He bettered his previous best of 33.01s.

He also set a new personal record in the 50m freestyle with a time of 26.29s.

His other events included 200m breaststroke (2:48:94) and 100m breaststroke (1:13:84).

Nathaniel managed a new personal best in the 200m freestyle with his time of 2:10:79.

He also competed in the 100m freestyle (1:00:63) and 100m butterfly (1:05:45).

On the other hand, Sea competed in two events: women's 100m breaststroke (1:27:19) and 50m breastroke (39.16s).

The meet was organised by the Singapore Swimming Association as a qualifying meet for the London 2012 Olympics.

Courtesy from Brunei Times