Jason Smith dominated the pool in sprints in juniors till last year. Now making his debut in the men’s category, he became the recipient of the Fastest man of the meet trophy, on the concluding day of the Otters Club’s 31st Open Swimming Championships, held at their pool, at Bandra on Sunday. In a thrilling finish, he pipped Ishaan Mehra of Otters at the post to win the 100m freestyle in 0: 53.12 secs. Earlier, in the day, he bagged gold in 100m butterfly stroke in a new timing of 0:58.23 seconds, thus rewriting Varun Divgikar’ s 2007 timing of 00:58. 67 secs. He followed it by adding another record when he won the 200m individual medley. The meet witnessed 12 new individual meet records added to 14 established on the opening day.
Jason Smith
However, the first day’s stars, both Kenisha Gupta of hosts Otters and Jason’s Khar Gymkhana mate Neel Roy, continued with their winning ways in their respective girls under-13 and boys under-15 sections. Neel ended with six golds, including today’s two new records. Kenisha, too, added two more records in her kitty of yesterday’s three. Others to join them in setting new marks were Otters’ Vedika Amin, who claimed golds in 50m back stroke and 50m freestyle in record timings in the girls under-11 section while tiny Anannya Nayak from Ozone was credited with two new records in the girls 25m freestyle and 25m breast stroke in the girls under-7 events.
Final day’s record-breaking events:
MEN: 100m Butterfly stroke: Jason Smith (Khar Gym) – 00:58.23 secs. Old mark: 00:58.67 secs.
MEN: 200m Individual Medley: Jason Smith (Khar Gym)- 02:13.60 secs. Old mark: 02:14.82 secs.
Boys U-13: 100m Backstroke: Aryan Bhosale (Forest Club) – 01:06.31 secs. Old mark¨01:08.35 secs.
Boys U-15: 100m breast stroke: Neel Roy (Khar Gym) – 01:09.92 secs. Old mark: 01:11.42 secs.
Boys U-15: 200m free style: Neel Roy (Khar Gym) – 01:56.07 secs. Old mark : 02:36.21 sec s.
Girls U-11: 50m Back stroke:.V edika Amin (Otters)- 00:34.46 secs. Old mark: 00:36.21 secs.
Girls U-11: 50m Freestyle: Vedika Amin (Otters) – 00L30.03 secs. Old mark: 00:31.34 secs.
Girls U-11: 200m Individual Medley: Sanjiti Saha (Khar Gym) – 02:42.13 secs. Old mark: 02:42.80 secs.
Girls U-13: 100m Freestyle: Kenisha Gupta (Otters) – 01:00.67 secs. Old mark: 012:02.95 se s.
Girls U-13 200m Freestyle: Kenisha Gupta (Otters) – 02:12.43 secs. Old mark: 02:14.03 secs.
Girls U-7: 25m breast stroke: Anannya Nayak (Ozone) – 00: 23.53 secs. Ld mark: 00:23.87 secs.
Girls U-7: 25m Freestyle: Anannya Nayak (Ozone) – 00:17.39 secs. Old mark: 00:18.45 secs.