Rising star Tyler Finau staying grounded

Another gold: Enterprise Cars Swim Team member Tyler Finau about to touch the wall to win one of the nine titles she collected at the national age group swimming championships in Auckland.

SWIMMING

GISBORNE teen swimming machine Tyler Finau is surging through the water at record-breaking speed but her feet are firmly on the ground.

The Enterprise Cars Swim Team member won nine titles at the national age group championships in Auckland, setting Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay records along the way.

Competing in the 13 years girls’ age group, the Campion College student won the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres freestyle, the 100 and 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly, and 200 and 400 individual medley.

Such achievements have naturally drawn comparisons with mother Julie McLaughlin, who represented New Zealand at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.

But Enterprise head coach Gary Martin says she is very much her own person, who enjoys being part of the Panthers squad.

“Tyler knows she still has a lot of work to do to reach the top,” said Martin. “She’s a quiet girl who wants the focus to be on the team and not on her alone.

“She’s aware she will at times, and by some people, be compared with Julie, but Tyler wants to her own person.

“Julie is a brilliant, supportive parent who doesn’t interfere with us as coaches. But if she sees Tyler slacking, there’s no ifs or buts; she lets her know.

“Julie has been there and done that and, like I said, she lets the coaches get on with coaching.”

Martin said Tyler’s breaststroke was probably her No.4 stroke, the only one in which she didn’t win a title at the nationals . . . “but that’s a work in progress”.

“It’s something that we as coaches and Tyler know she can improve.

“She’s happy with her performances but not satisfied, and definitely hungry to keep on improving.”

If that continues, her mother’s longstanding HBPB records could be threatened.

Tyler, who turned 14 on April 26, holds nine HBPB long-course records in the 13, 12 and 12 and under age groups.

Her mother still holds 10 HBPB records — in breaststroke, freestyle and IM — dating as far back as 1991.

Tyler’s father Mase Finau — a former Ngati Porou East Coast representative rugby player — laughed when The Gisborne Herald asked him if any of those swimming genes came from him.

“Mate, I can’t swim to save myself. It’s like that ad on TV where the father encourages his daughter to learn to swim, then she discovers he can’t swim. If I got in trouble in the water I’d be relying on Tyler or Julie to save me.”