Selwyn Times: January 31, 2018

32 Wednesday January 31 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Bates breaks Olympian’s record
• By Gordon Findlater
PROMISING young Lincoln
swimmer Hannah Bates has
broken one of Canterbury’s
longest standing records in the
pool.
Bates, 17, set the fastest time
ever recorded at the Swimming
Canterbury West Coast championships
in the women’s 200m individual
medley. The open record
was previously held by three-time
Olympian and Commonwealth
Games bronze medallist Helen
Lesslie (nee Norfolk).
The Aquagym swimmers time
also broke the 17-year-age-group
record which was also previously
held by Lesslie.
Hannah swam the evening session
in a scorching 2min 17.29sec
shaving .06sec off Lesslie’s open
record of 2min 17.35sec which
has stood since 2000.
“After my first race in the
morning my coach told me he
thought I could get the record,”
said Bates
“He was poolside smacking his
programme against his
hand while I was in the pool.
When I came up he was clapping
and cheering. I looked over at
mum and she was almost in tears
so I knew I had broken the
record.”
After the accomplishment
Lesslie commented on a Facebook
post by Swimming Canterbury
West Coast to congratulate
Bates. The 17-year-old then messaged
Lesslie privately to show
her appreciation.
RECORD BREAKER: Hannah Bates has broken one of
Canterbury’s longest standing records in the pool.
COMPARISON: Helen Lesslie
reached the 200m individual
medley semi-final at the 2004
Athens Olympics.
“It was really cool. She didn’t
have to take time out of her day
to do that,” said Bates.
“She told me she had been
keeping an eye on me since youth
Commonwealth Games and I
could talk to her if I ever needed
advice.”
Lesslie’s best performance in
the 200m individual medley
came at the 2004 Athens
Olympics where she qualified for
the semi-final. In the semi-final
she swam in a time of 2min
17.41sec.
At the Canterbury West Coast
championships Bates also competed
in breaststroke, freestyle,
backstroke and butterfly events
and won seven gold and one
silver medal in total.
For the seventh year in a row,
the championships were held in
Dunedin due to Christchurch not
having a 50m pool.
It was also a successful event
for Christchurch club JASI which
won the club points competition
at Otago-Canterbury-West Coast
championships.
The Jellie Park-based club
finished on 3806 points ahead of
Dunedin’s Neptune Swim Club,
3391pts, Wharenui, 2615pts,
QE II, 2505pts, and Aquagym,
1982pts.
THE RICCARTON Knights
(above) and Rolleston Warriors
(below) were crowned
champions at the Rolleston
Nines on Saturday.
The Knights reached the final
by defeating last year’s winner,
the Linwood Keas, 11-10 in
the last play of their semi-final
match.
They then claimed the
title with a 17-10 win over the
Halswell Hornets, who finished
SPORTS
SELWYN TIMES
Knights, Warriors win
Rolleston Nines
runner-up in Rolleston for the
second consecutive year.
The women’s competition was
taken out by the Warriors who
defeated the Celebration Lions
18-0.
The Warriors’ men’s team recovered
from a first up 0-29 loss
to the Keas to eventually finish
the tournament in fourth. They
will now turn their attention to
the Crosbie Nines tournament at
Crosbie Park on Saturday.