SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 18. LAURA Val wasted no time in setting new Masters world records in the 60-64 age group, bettering the marks in all the short course meters freestyle events in one race at the 1500 Meter Swim event at The Olympic Club.
Val, a regular on the Swimming World Magazine list of the top Masters swimmers of the year, is now 60 years old according to FINA rules that determine an athlete's age as of December 31. She ushered in the new age group with a 1500-meter freestyle race, setting world records with each intermediate split. She started with a 29.89 at the 50-meter mark, erasing the six-week-old 50 freestyle record of 30.01 set by Charlotte Davis.
At the 100-meter mark, another record fell, this time Davis' 1:06.58 from last December with a 1:05.16. At 200 meters, Val took down Conny Boer-Buys' 2:31.69 with a 2:24.19.
At the 400-meter mark, Val began crushing the records, this time erasing Barbara Dunbar's world record of 5:22.47 with a 5:02.65. The 800 freestyle record didn't stand a chance when Val reached that point in the race, with Val touching in 10:21.68, ahead of Dunbar's 10:58.58.
To top off the day, Val finished her 1500-meter swim with a blazing time of 19:38.63, taking down Dunbar's record of 20:46.82.
Val now owns the short course world records in all the freestyle events for the 55-59 and 60-64 age groups, as well as all the long course freestyle records in the 55-59 age group.
Women 60-64 1500 SC Meter Freestyle
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Name Age Team Seed Finals
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1 Val, Laura B 60 Tamalpais Aquati-38 20:00.00 19:38.63
29.89 1:05.16 (35.27) 1:44.35 (39.19) 2:24.19 (39.84)
3:04.03 (39.84) 3:43.74 (39.71) 4:23.40 (39.66) 5:02.65 (39.25)
5:42.50 (39.85) 6:22.34 (39.84) 7:01.92 (39.58) 7:41.50 (39.58)
8:21.75 (40.25) 9:01.62 (39.87) 9:41.84 (40.22) 10:21.68 (39.84)
11:01.81 (40.13) 11:42.02 (40.21) 12:21.83 (39.81) 13:01.82 (39.99)
13:42.09 (40.27) 14:21.93 (39.84) 15:02.32 (40.39) 15:42.12 (39.80)
16:22.05 (39.93) 17:02.12 (40.07) 17:41.88 (39.76) 18:21.22 (39.34)
19:00.23 (39.01) 19:38.63 (38.40)