Teddington Swimming Club breaststroke specialist Sophie Fussell took a step in to the record books last weekend.

The 13-year-old set a new 50m British breaststroke record for her age of 32.98 seconds at the Olympic Pool in emphatic style by storming to victory in the U14 race at the South England Zonal Championships on Saturday.

The previous best had stood for 15 years and her performance was so fast it beat all the times in the senior 50m breaststroke final.

Fussell wasted little time in adding U14 200m breaststroke gold to her haul in a new personal best time of 2:39.45, before claiming silver in the 100m breaststroke in 1:13.02 – another new personal best.

She has now increased her lead at the top of the British rankings for all three events in her age group and has improved on her entry time to the British Championships taking place in April. Gina Heyn, 30, claimed gold in the senior women’s 50m breasstroke in 33.54 and clocked 1:13.35 to claim silver in the 100m breasstroke.

There was a bronze medal for 13-year-old Thalia Poaros in the U14 200m butterfly HEad coach Ed Sinclair said: “Some extremely positive individual swims with the most successful Zonal champs that we have had and a British age record.”