Neves UK No. 1 in 17 events

KRISTINA NEVES had a great start to 2008 with a top-notch performance at last weekend's City of Derby Long Course Open. The 11-year-old Ladies' College swimming star, who is sponsored by Rothschild Bank International, won seven golds, three silvers and three bronzes in the 50m Olympic size pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

She also set six new south-east regional records and broke 11 personal best times

'It's always a bonus the first one of the year and she was pretty successful,' said her mother, Michelle.

'There were some good, strong girls that she swam against. It's good to have that experience.'

Neves is ranked number one in her age group in the country in a staggering seven events in 50m pools and in a further 10 in short course 25m pools.

Representing the Guernsey Swimming Club, Neves' best result came in the girls' 10 and 11 year-olds' 200m individual medley where she grabbed gold in a time of 2min. 35.79sec. to finish ahead of Molly Renshaw of Ripley and City of Derby star, Catherine Williams.

However, Neves then had to settle finishing second behind Williams in the 200m backstroke.

In some events Neves was up against much older swimmers, especially in the 100m freestyle where she swam alongside 21-year-olds. However, she did not seem intimidated as she won her heat.

The new regional records that she set were in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 50m backstroke.

To top off a good weekend, Neves then found herself on top of the podium for gaining the most BAGCAT points over the meeting.

Her next big event is the Hampshire County Championships in March.

Then in June she will have the Southern Championships followed by the Nationals in July.

Along with training with the Guernsey Swimming Club, Neves also regularly trains at the K2 Leisure Centre 50m pool in Crawley under top coach Tim Hartley.

Her mother was critical of the hours that Beau Sejour allows competitive swimmers to train.

'It's quite limited in Guernsey as the pool opens at 7am,' she said.