Kukors, Weir Earn National Championship Titles

One night down, two national titles to boast. The first evening of the 2009 Short Course National Championships in Federal Way, Wash., on December 3rd was a victorious one for Ariana Kukors and Amanda Weir as both walked away with championship titles. Both athletes competed in TYR’s Tracer Light™ Aeroback Shortjohn. Kukors, who recently received swimming’s prestigious Golden Goggle Award for “Female Race of the Year,” after breaking a world record in the 200m individual medley at the summer’s World Championships, was victorious in the short course distance of the event, clocking in at 1:55.40. Having the fastest butterfly (25.37) and backstroke (28.79) splits in the race, she took the lead at the hundred and never looked back. With two more days of racing ahead of her, Kukors was satisfied with the night’s performance and sets her mind on what is to come. “I am really happy with my performance tonight,” Kukors shared. “I am looking forward to some good racing this weekend and just enjoying myself and the great competition.” Following Kukor’s performance with her own podium-topping race, Weir dominated the 50y freestyle-defending her national title in the event. After the preliminaries, former Olympian Weir entered finals second with a time of 22:23. In a field that included Olympians and a World Cup Champion, she used the talent on both sides of her to push to a first place finish of 21:90. “That race felt really good,” said Weir. “Coming into tonight with the second seed I was just really focusing on defending my national title in the event, so I am really happy that I did. Now I will continue to roll with it and have fun and keep improving.” Return back to TYR.com for more updates as Kukors, Weir, and many other TYR-sponsored athletes race amongst some of the nation’s finest at Weyerhaueser King County Aquatic Center through December 5th.