NCAA Championships over the weekend -- and he marked the occasion by smashing two of his own national records.

The 22-year-old swam the 200 metres individual medley -- his speciality -- in two minutes, 1.85 seconds, shaving a remarkable five seconds off his old Bermudian record of 2:06.3, set last year.

And in the 100 metres butterfly, Fahy was equally impressive, clocking 54.53 seconds to better his old record of 56.69 by more than two seconds.

It was the first time NCAA races had been measured in metres rather than yards, to help swimmers prepare for the Olympics where metres are used.

Despite his apparent success in the prestigious two-day event at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Fahy felt he could have done better.

"I'm a little disappointed really,'' said Fahy. "I finished about 28th out of 50 in both races but I was seeded 16 going into the meet.

"I just did not swim quite as well as I can. Everyone there was within 1.5 seconds of each other and if you swim just a little bit slower than you can, you can drop about 10 positions.'' Fahy is the only Bermudian swimmer so far to qualify for this year's Sydney Olympics, something he achieved with his performance in becoming the first Bermudian to reach a Pan-Am Games final in Winnipeg last year.

Though the Yale student was far from excited from his continuing improvement, national swimming coach Richard Goodwin was keen to show his delight.

"Stephen's on fire at the moment,'' said Goodwin. "For the last six or eight weeks, he's just been going faster and faster.

"The NCAA field is probably stronger than the one he will face in the Olympics, so he's done phenomenally well.'' Fahy confirmed that he had been surprised by the depth of talent among the opposition.

"I was always told that the NCAAs is one of the fastest meetings in the world and now I know it's true,'' said Fahy.

"The slowest people in it are probably faster than the slowest people in any other meeting in the world. And the fastest people are as fast as you're likely to find anywhere -- I think there were six or seven world records broken.'' Fahy, who started swimming with the Sharks club at the age of seven, will be concentrating on the 200m IM and the 100 butterfly in Sydney.

But he will not be wearing one of the controversial neck-to-ankle "shark suits'' which have been claimed to trim top swimmers' times by around three percent.

"I wouldn't be comfortable in an all-over suit and I don't think they'll allow them at the Olympics anyway,'' said Fahy.

"They're supposed to reduce drag in the water but I'm not sure I agree with the idea of a full body suit.

"I think the suits which cover the chest and go down to the knees and leave the arms free would be more comfortable.'' Fahy, who broke two Yale records earlier this year in the 200 yards IM and the 400 yards IM, said his coach Frank Keefe had been the key to his continuing improvement.

Fahy stayed over at Yale last summer to continue his training with Keefe, coach of the 1984 US Olympic team, and after impressive results, he intends to do the same this summer to maximise his chances of a good performance in Sydney in September.

Making a splash: Stephen Fahy set two national records when he became the first Bermudian to compete in the prestigious NCAA swimming championships over the weekend.