Lisa Blackburn is the fastest woman in the world and she didn't even know it.The Bermuda swimmer stormed into the world record books yesterday after smashing the 100m breaststroke time at the USA Winter National Swim Championships, but wasn't aware of the fact until The Royal Gazette told her last night.Blackburn, 40, posted a time of one minute, 13.21 seconds, easily eclipsing the previous world best of 1.13.78 for the 40 to 44 age group category set by Susan Von Der Lippe of the US in 2009.The time also comfortably outstripped the record set in the 35-39 age group, held by American Carolyn Krattli, of 1.13.81sec, and moves Blackburn to within 2.32 seconds of reaching the Olympic qualifying time.Unsurprisingly Blackburn's achievement was also a Bermuda national record and came on a good day for the Island's swimmers, with Julian Fletcher swimming a personal best of 1.03.97 in the same discipline and coming to within a second of also reaching next year's Games in London.“That's fantastic,” said Blackburn, “I'm a bit taken aback by that. I wasn't aware that I had done that and I didn't know I was eligible to break that record.”While Blackburn will wait for official confirmation of the record from FINA, swimming's world governing body, she saw her performance yesterday as cause enough for celebration, and a vindication of the hard work she has been putting in at her training camp in Florida.“I'm in a great training environment in Florida,” she said. “I'm working really hard with a group of women that are focused on going fast in the pool. I'm pretty excited by how I'm swimming.“This gets me one step closer to the qualifying time for the Games. I have until June 1 and I'm really excited to be swimming this fast this early in the season, there's a lot left to do but this is all really positive.”If Blackburn were to make it to London next year she would be the oldest female to reach the Olympics in the 100m breaststroke, and could easily find herself joined in the UK by Fletcher.The young swimmer, who is based at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, grabbed the opportunity of swimming at the nationals with both hands and sent a message to the likes of Roy Allan Burch in the process.Fletcher's time shattered his previous best of 1.05.00 set at the World Championships in Shanghai earlier this year. This new mark shatters the previous Bermuda Open National Record of 1.04.04 held previously by Olympian Chris Flook.“This gets me one step closer to London and I'm really happy,” said Fletcher. “I'm now only a second away and continuing to improve all the time. I knew I was capable of going faster than 1.05, I went all out for it, and I'm making progress.”National swim coach Ben Smith couldn't hide his excitement at Fletcher's achievement and said he thought the young gun had ‘a real shot' at reaching the Games.“It is a massive breakthrough not only for Julian, but Bermuda swimming in general,” said Smith. “He is now less than a second from officially qualifying for the Olympics, which was only a dream two months ago. Now he has a real shot, a real shot.”Burch, who has already qualified for the Olympics, also swan yesterday registering a time of 23.88sec in the 50m freestyle, and he will swim again this weekend in the 100m free. Blackburn and Fletcher will also race in the 50m breaststroke.