Rotorua swimmers break records ahead of NZ short course championships

Ariel Muchirahondo, 15, (left) of John Paul College and Leo English, 14, of Rotorua Boy's High School aspire to swim at the 2028 Olympics.

As the world’s best swimmers battle it out for gold at the Paris Olympics, a pair of talented Rotorua swimmers have set their sights on being among them in 2028 in Los Angeles.

The aspiring Olympians from Swim Rotorua have been breaking personal and national age-group records this season, and their coach Aidan Withington expects them to only get faster with another championship this month.

Swimmer Leo English, 14, is a student at Rotorua Boys’ High School. He broke the New Zealand age record of 3m 59.92s in the 400m freestyle at the Bay of Plenty Championships in July.

A week later he broke his own record during the New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships, finishing with a time of 3m 57.62s.

English also broke the 200m freestyle national age record, which had been 1m 54.24s since 2012, by more than a second, finishing with a time of 1m 52.58s.

“I liked how this race went from start to finish. It was good to get the results I was after,” English said.

Ariel Muchirahondo, 15, from John Paul College broke the 200m butterfly record at the Waikato champs on July 8.

Achieving a time of 2m 02.33s, Withington told the Rotorua Daily Post the record for this aged category had not been broken since 2007 when it was set to 2m 03.08s.

Aidan Withington is proud of his swimmers this season. Photo / Stephen Parker

Muchirahondo also broke his own record during last month’s New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships in Auckland.

Muchirahondo said the 400m freestyle race was a highlight for him. “[It was] my first 400 freestyle for a while and I made some big drops off my converted time”.

Earlier this year, Muchirahondo won gold in eight individual events during the National Age Group Championships.

Withington said both boys were building up to compete at the Swimming New Zealand Short Course Championships, coming up in Auckland from 20-24 August.

Withington said this was considered “an open meet for the best swimmers around the country, 13 and over”.

Withington said both boys deserve top placements because they work “really hard”.

“They should be going faster [by then] … they are breaking New Zealand records and are on the pathway to go to the Olympics in four years.

“I know that that is what their aspirations are, they’re both very diligent. It’s not just what they do in the water. They’re doing a lot of things outside as well.

“They run, they cycle, like to fit in with the swim training, you know, and the gym work.

“They’ve got the power of choice at the end of the day - they choose to lift everything up to that next kind of level,” Withington said.

Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty.