Mark down the name of Jeremy Hopkins. He has the potential to become a future Olympian.
The Neptune swimmer demonstrated his class when he won two gold medals on the first night of the New Zealand age group championships in Wellington.
Hopkins (13) won the 200m individual medley and the 50m backstroke in Otago record times in the boys aged 12 and 13 grade. He is a member of Gennadiy Labara's Osca squad.
The significance was that the two long-standing age group records were held by former Otago Olympians.
In the 200m medley he beat the record set by double Olympic gold medallist Danyon Loader, in 1989. Hopkins' time of 2min 19.65sec lowered Loader's record by 1.30sec and was worth 545 Fina points.
In the 50m backstroke, Hopkins beat the record set by 2000 Olympian Jonathon Duncan, in 1996, by 0.17sec. His time was 30.56sec.
Hopkins also broke four records in the same grade at the South Island championships at Invercargill earlier in the season.
The two other Otago medallists at the championships were Waves swimmers Carina Doyle, in the girls aged 17 and 18 grade, and Thomas Heaton, in the boys aged 12 and 13 grade.
Doyle was third in the 400m freestyle in 4min 24.05sec. It was worth 742 Fina points.
Heaton won the bronze medal in the 200m butterfly in 2min 33.34sec. It was worth 384 Fina points.
Australian Emmabeth Jensen (16), who trained with the Waves squad when she attended Columba College last year, won a bronze medal in the girls aged 17 and 18 grade in the 200m backstroke. Her time was 2min 20.32sec and was worth 703 Fina points.
