Roy-Allan Burch, Bermuda swimmer, set a national record in the 50 metres butterfly finishing in a time of 24.26sec at the World Short Course Championships in Doha, Qatar, today.

Burch, who smashed his 50 freestyle record the previous day in 21.81, sliced seven hundredths of a second off his previous 50 butterfly best of 24.89, which he set in Bermuda in 2012.

The 29-year-old made a blistering start, stroking his way to the turn in 11.27. The field then split and Burch had clear water in the outside lane of the pool, coming home in 12.99 for a second-place finish in his heat.

He came tied in 48th place of a field of 140 competitors.

Richard Goodwin, the Bermuda assistant coach, said: “This is not an event that Roy-Allan competes on a regular basis, nor one that he even trains very often.

“It’s evident that his overall fitness level continues to improve and it was his ability and experience that allowed him to make an easy transition into butterfly from his mainstream freestyle training.

“I’m left to wonder how much faster he could go in butterfly if he was to train the stroke on a regular basis.”

Also in action on day three of the Championships was Julian Fletcher, who experienced every swimmer’s nightmare in his 200 breaststroke race when his google strap snapped.

Electing to swim without goggles and the resulting poor vision, Fletcher rose to the occasion and produced another outstanding performance, setting a national record in 2:16.25.

Relying strictly on stroke count as his main guide, Fletcher won his heat, stripping 3.71 seconds of his previous best 2:19.96, which he set in Bermuda in 2012.

Fletcher placed 35th out of a field of 54.

Goodwin added: “Julian was naturally concerned that he had to swim without his goggles, but what I particularly liked was that he was not going to let that disrupt his effort.

“He knows he can go even faster and when everything does work in his favour, I know we can expect to see another dramatic drop in time.”

Fletcher also set a national record in the 100 breaststroke on the opening day of the Championships, clipping a second off of the previous record set by Chris Flook in 1992, finishing in 1:02.04.

Since turning professional after this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Fletcher has moved to Los Angeles to train full-time with esteemed coach David Salo at the University of Southern California.

Bermuda’s participation at the Championships concludes tomorrow with Burch swimming the 100 freestyle and Fletcher competing in the 50 breaststroke.