Butterfly specialist Hazel Ouwehand has wasted little time staking her claim for the Paris Olympics, shattering two national records and eclipsing the qualifying standard over 100 metres at the national championships at Hastings.
Twelve hours after becoming the first Kiwi woman under 26 seconds over 50 metres, clocking 25.88s in Wednesday night's final, Ouwehand doubled down with another national mark in the 100 metres heats, recording 57.43s.
The latter was half a second under the standard set for the Paris later this year.
"I really wanted to do the time this morning and get that weight off my shoulders," she said of her 100 metres performance. "I'd swum it last month, so I knew I had it in me.
"I felt like jelly right before getting on the block, the last 15-20m hurt like hell and I'm so tired now, but I’m so, so happy with that."
The morning session also saw Lili-Fox Mason qualify for the Paris Paralympics over S10 400m freestyle with a time of 4m 58.00s.
World champions Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather have also made a solid start to their national championship campaigns, with Clareburt recording the fastest 200m freestyle for a Kiwi in more than a decade, while Fairweather bettered the Olympic standard for a second time.
