Carterton swimmer Joe Hammond continues to make big waves at the national age-group championships in Wellington.
His third placing in the boys' 16yrs 200m backstroke final on Wednesday produced Hammond's second bronze medal in as many days, the first coming in the 200m individual medley.
Once again, too, Hammond showedthe ability to rise to the occasion, his time of 2mins 10.22secs in the backstroke final being well inside the 2mins 14.74secs he returned in the heats.
Hammond went into the final as the fifth-fastest qualifier and was beaten only by Gregory Tarasevich of Mt Wellington (2mins 3.79secs) and Julian Weir of Taranaki (2mins 9.39secs)
Another Wairarapa swimmer to make a final on Wednesday was Bella Biggs (Carterton) who finished fourth in the girls' 12-13yrs 400m individual medley in 5mins 23.43secs, a sharp improvement on her heat time of 5mins 31.23secs.
Biggs also contested the 50m butterfly where she was placed 22nd after the heats with a time of 32.70secs and both Hammond and Ben Ruback (Masterton) were in the heats of the boys' 16yrs 400m freestyle, Hammond placing 11th with a time of 4mins 24.79secs and Ruback 13th with 4mins 25.83secs.
Taylah Mawson (Carterton) posted the 21st fastest time of 5mins 47.85secs in the heats of the girls' 14yrs 400m individual medley, Jacob Smith (Masterton) was 15th in the heats of the boys' 15yrs 50m breaststroke with a time of 35.28secs and Sven Tobias was 18th in the boys' 14yrs 200m backstroke with 2mins 29.40secs.