One-Woman Wrecking Machine Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen Sets 8 Masters Records for Women 40-44

IRVINE, Calif., June 4. JUST one week after smashing six USMS records at the Short Course Masters National Championships in Hawaii, San Diego Masters swimmer Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, 40, continued to rewrite the record book for the 40-44 age-group as she established eight (out of a possible nine) new long course national records while competing at the Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine May 24-27.

While all of Pipes-Neilsen’s times are world-bests, they will only be recognized as USMS national records due to a rule that does not allow times from non-Masters meets to count toward FINA Masters world records.

Day One: Starting off the three-day meet with a bang, Pipes-Neilsen swam a prelim time of 2:27.19 for the 200-meter IM taking over two seconds off the previous best of 2:29.80 swum by teammate Caroline Krattli at the 2002 World Masters Championships in New Zealand.

Pipes-Neilsen then swam the 200-meter back in a time of 2:26.21, hacking over five seconds off Beth Baker’s record of 2:31.66 set in 2001. In the finals, Pipes-Neilsen again lowered that standard by two full seconds with a speedy 2:24.11, taking a grand total of eight seconds off the mark in one day.

Day Two: Pipes-Neilsen began d
Day Two with a 2:10.63 200-meter free, two seconds quicker than the mark of 2:12.75 set by Susanne Simpson at the 2002 World Masters Championships in March.

In the 100-meter back and 100-meter fly, Pipes-Neilsen once again took a swipe at the impressive records Beth Baker established just last year. In the prelims, Pipes-Neilsen took Baker’s 100-meter back record of 1:09.88 down a notch to a 1:08.53, and then took another half second off in the finals with a 1:08.03.

Pipes-Neilsen also nabbed the record for the 100-meter fly with a 1:05.45, just a hair faster than Baker’s time of 1:05.61.

Day Three: On the final day of competition, Pipes-Neilsen became the first woman over the age of 40 to crack the 1-minute barrier in the 100-meter free with a 59.80, bettering her own mark of 1:00.12 set one month ago.

In the semifinals, Pipes-Neilsen shaved a quarter of a second off Baker’s 50-meter fly standard of 29.59 with a 29.35. In the 50-meter back, Pipes-Neilsen stroked to a 32.19 just barely dipping under the previous best of 32.25 set by Laura Val back in 1994.

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