Annamay Pierse: 200m Breaststroke World Record

by jtsg | March 21, 2009 at 12:49 am

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(Watch the interview in high-definition: fast computer and broadband Internet recommended)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2009/4/27) — 25-year-old Canadian swimmer Annamay Pierse set a new 200-meter breaststroke (short course) world record on Saturday, March 14.

At the Canadian Spring National Championships in Toronto, Ontario on Saturday, Pierse set a time of 2:17.50 to lower by a quarter-second the world record held by Australian Liesel Jones since 2003.

The swimmers placing second, third, and fourth in the race behind Pierse all are her teammates on her University of British Columbia varsity team — UBC Thunderbirds — as well as her swimming club: UBC Dolphins.

Hanna Pierse, the fourth place finisher is Annamay's 20-year-old sister.

Four weeks earlier on Feb. 20 at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships, the 25-year-old Edmonton, Alberta native improved her own 200-meter Canadian record time clocking 2:18.59 to set what was then the world's second fastest time.

She holds all four Canadian records at the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke distances in short course and long course racing.

The 200-meter time of 2:17.50 is the first world record of Pierse's career. (Video of the race)

It is the first world record set by a Canadian female swimmer in nearly 21 years.

At the 1988 Canadian Olympic trials, then 15-year-old Allison Higson clocked 2:27.27 in the 200-meter breaststroke (long course).

With crowning achievements to punctuate her varsity career, Pierse completes her undergraduate studies at UBC as the 2008-2009 CIS female athlete of the year awarded with a $10,000 scholarship to attend a Canadian graduate school.

She transferred to UBC from her hometown Edmonton in 2006 as a student athlete in the third year of eligibility in university competition.

She graduates as the most decorated member of her swim team class being also a two-time defending CIS female swimmer of the year, as well as the winner of UBC's Marilyn Pomfret Trophy as the university's female athlete of the year.

After Pierse graduates UBC as a Bachelor of Arts at the end of the current winter semester, she will travel to Rome, Italy in July to represent Canada at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships.

She is coached by Joseph Nagy at the UBC Aquatic Centre in Vancouver.

(Reporter: Jason Wang)