Jeremy Hopkins, the dominant Otago swimmer at the New Zealand age-group championships, proved that he has the temperament to compete at the highest level.
He won nine medals - seven gold and two silver - in Wellington and broke six Otago age-group records.
This included long-held records of Olympians Danyon Loader and Jonathan Duncan.
In the final two days of the championships at the weekend, Hopkins won gold in the boys aged 12 and 13 200m freestyle (2min 04.96sec) and 100m backstroke (1min 04.80sec).
The freestyle race was worth 543 Fina points and the backstroke 514.
He also won a silver medal in the 100m butterfly in 1min 05.09sec. It was worth 448 Fina points. Hopkins, who competes for the Neptune club, is a member of Gennadiy Labara's Osca squad.
He started swimming when his family lived in Oamaru and they have shifted to Dunedin for the sake of his swimming.
It was a successful championships for the Otago team that won 20 medals - nine gold, seven silver and four bronze.
It was an improvement on last year when Otago swimmers won 19 medals - three gold, seven silver and nine bronze.
Carina Doyle, a member of Andy Adair's Waves squad, won four medals - one gold, two silver and one bronze in the girls aged 17 and 18 grade.
She added a silver medal in the 800m freestyle at the weekend with a time of 9min 01.06sec. It was worth 761 Fina points.
The other multiple medal winner was Aleisha Ruske (Neptune) who won a gold medal in the girls aged 14 100m butterfly in 1min 05.65sec. It was worth 622 Fina points.
Ruske, who was coached by the late Punch Tremaine, also won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle (27.98sec) and a bronze in the 200m butterfly (2min 29.18sec).
Additional silver medals at the weekend were won by Sophie Gibson (Queenstown) and Thomas Heaton (Waves).
Gibson won her medal in the girls aged 14 200m butterfly in 2min 27.68sec. It was worth 583 Fina points.
Heaton won his medal in the boys aged 12 and 13 1500m in 18min 04.21sec. It was worth 524 Fina points.
The Otago boys under 15 4x50m relay team of Andrew Trembath, Han Zhang, Phillip Baxter and Ben Simmers won a bronze medal in 1min 55.96sec. It was worth 525 Fina points.
Trembath swam the backstroke and set an Otago boys aged 14 and 15 record of 28.71sec.
South Australian Emmabeth Jensen (16), who trained with Andy Adair's Waves squad when she attended Columba College last year, won silver medals in the girls aged 16 100m butterfly (1min 04.07sec) and 200m individual medley (2min 23.06sec) and a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle (27.30sec).
