Prescott (55), the Dunedin City Council's aquatics services manager, won five gold medals in the men's aged 55 to 59 grade in Sydney.
He won three freestyle races - the 200m (2min 10.16sec), 400m (4min 33.42sec) and 800m (9min 22.02sec) - and the 200m individual medley (2min 33.76sec) and 100m butterfly (1min 06.55sec).
"My wife is long-suffering," Prescott said.
"She wakes up when the alarm goes at 4.30am for my early morning training. I couldn't have done it without her help."
Prescott joined Labara's squad this year and has been impressed by his technical knowledge.
"He has the ability to see what swimmers are doing wrong," Prescott said.
"He brings the best out of his swimmers technically. He changed my stroke."
Prescott has now won seven gold medals at world masters events.
He also won the open water events in Melbourne in 2003 and in Edmonton in 2005.
It was not held this year because of rough weather conditions.
The times in Sydney were all New Zealand long-course records, with the most impressive being the 800m freestyle that he lowered by 12sec and the 400m freestyle by 5sec.
These were his own records.
He is now swimming faster than he was as a 40-year-old.
The 200m freestyle and the 200m individual medley records were both held by Barry Young (Auckland) since the early 1990s.
Prescott's next goal is the New Zealand Masters Games in Dunedin in February and the New Zealand open water series during the summer months.
He was also part of the Dunedin Masters Club 4 x 50m relay team that finished fourth in the freestyle event and in the medley relay.
The other members of the team were Steve Clark, Peter Graham and Richard Jongens.
They competed against national teams.
Jongens won a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle in the men's aged 40 to 44 age group.
It broke Prescott's New Zealand record.
Steve Prescott
Master swimmer
Age: 55
Occupation: Dunedin City Council aquatics services manager
Record World Masters Games in Sydney: Gold medals in 200m (2min 10.16sec), 400m (4min 33.42sec) and 800m (9min 22.02sec) freestyle, 200m individual medley (2min 33.76sec) and 100m butterfly (1min 06.55sec).
