Otago swimmers have made a strong start to the New Zealand age group championships in Hastings.
On Sunday night they collected six medals — three gold — and set three Otago age group records.
Neo Salomonsson broke the Otago record for the 100m butterfly in the male 16 category during his heat and returned later in the day to clock an outstanding time of 55.04sec.
He shaved over 1sec off his previous record and edged Rotorua’s Ariel Muchirahondo (55.81sec) to claim gold.
Orlando Hardie, of Hamilton, finished third in 56.72sec.
Wānaka swimmer Hana Carnie claimed gold in the female 13 years 50m backstroke and recorded a blistering time of 1min 5.61sec in the first leg of the 4 x 100m medley relay.
Her team finished fourth, but she broke the Otago female 13 years 100m backstroke record with the swim.
William McFarlane completed the gold rush with a win in the male 16 years 1500m freestyle in a time of 16min 50.59sec.
He was nearly 30sec ahead of his closest rival.
Bella McEntyre nabbed silver in the female 15 years 800m freestyle and Charlotte Aburn placed second in the female 16 years 50m freestyle, while Luisa Palmer won bronze in the female 15 years 50m freestyle.
