Mary T, Erika Braun, and St. Pete Masters Swimming Shatter World Records at Rowdy Gaines Meet

• January 30-February 1, 2026
• Rosen Aquatic and Fitness Center, Orlando, Florida
• Short Course Meters (25 meters)
• Live Meet Results (additionally on Meet Mobile)

Olympic champion and swimming legend Mary T. (Meagher) Plant has dived head first into Masters swimming after many a long time away from competitors, and she or he has shortly turn into one of many sport’s main figures globally.

At this weekend’s Rowdy Gaines Masters Classic, the seventeenth version of one of many nation’s largest annual Masters swimming meets, Mary T. switched her membership affiliation to St. Pete Masters. New USMS guidelines permit swimmers to vary their membership affiliation 3 instances per yr, and after that they’re locked in till the following yr.

St. Pete Masters is dwelling to a few of the nation’s finest Masters’ swimmers, and the group teamed up on Friday to interrupt the 800 SCM freestyle relay World Record by a whopping 15 seconds.

Mary T. led off in 2:15.70, and she or he was adopted by Alison Hayden (2:23.04), Erika Braun (2:16.24), and Penny Noyes (2:36.15). The relay’s last time of 9:31.13 was over 15 seconds forward of the World Record (9:46.31) for combination age group 240-279. That outdated data was set by British membership Harrogate in October 2024.

The World Record setters: Plant, Hayden, Braun, and Noyes. Courtesy: Erika Braun

Hayden is 55, Braun is 54, and Noyes is 72 (based mostly on their age on the finish of this yr).

But that wasn’t the tip of the highway for the 61-year-old Olympic legend Plant. She got here again on Saturday and posted a 2:36.16 in her specialty occasion, the 200 meter fly. That swim took nearly 4 seconds off the World Record for the 60-64 age group, which was a 2:39.81 achieved by Canadian Ilka Lowensteyn in May 2025.

Fellow Olympian Vesna Shelnutt, who’s 41 and represented Macedonia on the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and was the 2001 European Junior Championships silver medalist within the 200 fly, swam in the identical warmth and completed in 2:31.39 to win the 40-44 age group.

Mary T. (Meagher) Plant and fellow Olympian Vesna Tojanovska. Courtesy: Erika Braun

Plant is scheduled to swim the 200 free, 50 free, 50 fly, 100 free, and 100 fly later within the meet.

After a long time away from competitors, Meagher returned to the pool as a Masters swimmer in 2025, swimming at a number of meets throughout the nation

During her skilled profession, Plant gained 5 Olympic medals, together with golds within the 100 fly, 200 fly, and 400 medley relay on the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She accrued 9 World Championship medals as effectively, two of which had been gold. She held the World Record within the 100-meter fly from 1980 till 1999 and the 200 fly from 1979 till 2000, setting these data when she was 15 and 14, respectively.

Her 200 fly time of two:05.96 from 1981 stays the U.S. National Age Group Record in that occasion 44 years later, one of many oldest data on the books.

The Rowdy Gaines Masters meet often attracts a lot of swimming celebrities annually from throughout the Southeastern United States. Gaines himself swam on Saturday, touching in 28.33 within the 25 free. He has an entry within the 50 free but to come back.