Rebecca Heyliger reached the Olympic qualifying B standard in the 50 metres freestyle on the first day of the Validus Bermuda National Championships at the National Aquatics Centre last night.

Competing in a time-trial with Sharks team-mate Madelyn Moore, the 23-year-old finished in a time of 26.13sec, four hundredths of a second faster than the B standard of 26.17.

Moore, who is also pushing for the B standard in the 50 free, posted a time of 26.36.

“When I saw the time I was like ‘I did it’,” said Heyliger, who attends the University of Southern California. “I wasn’t expecting it and I was so happy I got it out of the way so early in the meet.”

Heyliger’s time is a personal best and faster than her national record of 26.58, although it will not stand as she was competing in a time-trial and not a race.

She is the first Bermudian swimmer to meet the Olympic B standard and will be hoping to be named in next month’s team for Rio by the Bermuda Olympic Association.

“If I get to go to Rio this time I will be so happy just to represent Bermuda,” she said. “It will be the experience of a lifetime.

“I’m so excited and love swimming for Bermuda and take so much pride in it.”

Heyliger is now aiming to lower her time when she competes in the 50 free race at the championships on Sunday.

“I’d like to break 26 seconds,” she said. “I have been visualising 25.09 and that’s where I want to go. I’ve been at the 26 barrier for years now so it’s time to break out.”

The A standard for qualifying for the Rio Olympics has been set at 25.28 by FINA, the sport’s governing body.

Moore, 15, said she was delighted with her swim which was also her personal best.

“I dropped around three tenths of a second and so it was a good swim, especially for a 50 freestyle,” Moore said.

Also producing fast times were Elijah Daley, 10, and Brian Desmond, 12, who both set age-group records.

Daley obliterated Evan Farrows’s 9-10 record in the 400 free from 5:35.25 to 5:18.74, while Desmond eclipsed Tyler Smith’s record of 19:30.02 in the 1,500 free with a time of 19:22.13.

All of Bermuda’s top swimmers have returned for this weekend’s championships, with Julian Fletcher, Roy-Allan Burch and Lisa Blackburn also hoping to reach the Olympic B standard.

Burch, a two-times Olympian, competed in the Arena Pro Series meet in Charlotte last weekend and posted his fastest time in the 50 metres freestyle since a horrific injury last year.

Burch’s time of 23.34sec put him on the cusp of the B standard, which is 23.05.

Fletcher will be accompanied by two of his Trojan Swim Club team-mates, from Venezuela and Syria, as he attempts to qualify in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

Claire Donahue, the United States Olympic gold medal winner, will also be competing as part of the South Florida Aquatic Club team that Lisa Blackburn is bringing with her as she tries to lower her times in the breaststroke events.

Other countries being represented at the meet include Trinidad and Tobago, Panama and Guam.

Team Canada have brought 12 members of their youth development squad, with the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association hoping they will provide a stiff challenge for the island’s young swimmers, who are hoping to qualify for the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships.

The championships continue today at the Aquatics Centre, beginning at 6pm, and run through the weekend.