Bermuda’s swimmers broke national records and produced a string of personal bests at the Ascot Bermuda National Championships this weekend. It was no surprise that Olympian Emma Harvey led the way, breaking two national records in the space of a few minutes in the preliminary rounds on Friday night. Harvey took 0.05sec off her 50 metres butterfly record, setting a new mark of 26.70 and then took 0.03 of the 100 fly record when stopping the clock in 59.85, beating a record set last month in the TYR Pro Series. Harvey, 23 went on to win gold in the 50 fly on Saturday evening before missing the final day of competition because of college commitments in the United States and was pleased to have set PBs in the year post-Olympics. “A lot of people talk about the year after the Olympics as being really hard to find continued motivation because you’ve achieved your life goal,” Harvey said. “There are a lot of emotions that came with that and it’s difficult to navigate sport immediately after the Olympics. But it just gave me the confidence that I belong at the top level and I’m grateful that in the last year I’ve broken four national records and I really wasn’t expecting that. “I went into 2025 thinking this was going to be a down year for me so I’m so happy that I’m still progressing and a lot of that was from the Olympics giving me so much confidence.” Another one of Bermuda’s top swimmers, Sam Williamson, was back and competing over shorter distances than normal and he faced a couple of tough challenges before picking up his gold medals. Williamson was pushed to the limit by Reece Insley in the 100 metres breaststroke, winning by just 0.15 seconds after a pulsating battle in the final 50 metres and that came just half an hour after beating Logan Jones to victory in the 50 fly. It was not a flawless championships for Williamson, who was beaten by 16-year-old Connor Hupman in the 100 metres freestyle. Hupman, who picked up seven medals at the Carifta Games in 2024, is on the rise and had 0.71sec in hand over Williamson after touching the wall and followed up by winning the 400 metres freestyle. There were also victories for Brian Desmond in the 50 metres and 200 metres backstroke. Desmond, 21, has just finished college at Fordham and was glad to test himself against top opposition “I love coming back to race,” Desmond said. “I do a lot more events here than I normally would but I enjoy racing and seeing the young guys coming up. I’ve just finished college so it’s nice to come back and get back into long course but it’s definitely a big challenge. “I’m starting work full time in Manhattan at the end of August and the pan is to keep swimming, find a pool there. I love the sport and I want to keep going.” Violet Smith, aged just 15, became the women’s national champion in the 50 metres and 200 metres backstroke with Marleigh Howes winning the 100 freestyle. Lila Connolly won the 100 breaststroke, with Katherine Wheddon coming out on top in the 400 metres freestyle. One notable absentee from the national championships was Jack Harvey, who also competed for Bermuda at the Olympics in Paris. But he remains in great form, recently becoming the third-fastest swimmer ever from the Carifta and Caribbean region in the 100 metres backstroke. Harvey finished second to Olympic gold-medal winner Hubert Kos in a time of 54.56, which puts him less than half a second away from the World Aquatics A time.