Short course national records set by Meral and Ulya

Two young Maldivian swimmers, Meral Ain Latheef and Aishath Ulya Shaig, have set new national records in short course swimming.

Ulya, who represented Maldives at last year's Paris Olympics, broke the national record, setting a record of 28.41 seconds in the Women's Short Course 50m Freestyle Event at the 2025 Hancock Prospecting Western Australia Short Course Championships held in Australia from 1st August to 3rd August.

The record prior was set by Amna Thazkiya Mirsad (Thazki) at the Asian Open Schools Invitational (AOSI) Short Course (25m) Age Group Swimming Championships 2024 in Thailand last year. Her record was a time of 28.55 seconds.

Meral, who was also part of the Maldivian team that competed at the 22nd World Aquatics Championships (Long course) in Singapore which concluded on Sunday, set three short course national records at the AP Race: Plymouth Summer Open 2025 held in the UK from 28th June to 29th June.

Meral set new national records in the UK for the following categories:

- Women's Short Course 400m Individual Medley Event

- Women's Short Course 200m Individual Medley Event

- Women's Short Course 50m Butterfly Event

Meral broke the Short Course 400m Individual Medley Event record time this year by breaking her own time she set last year, with the new record being 05:43.81. She set the prior record last year at the Welsh Capital Open Meet with a time of 05:49.59.

Meral broke the national record in the Women’s Short Course 200m Individual Medley Event, setting a time of 02:37.66. The record prior was set by Amna Thazkiya Mirsad (Thazki) at the AOSI Short Course (25m) Age Group Swimming Championships 2024 in Thailand last year, with a time of 02:42.67.

Meral set a new national record during the Women's Short Course 50m Butterfly Event by completing the heat event with a time of 31.14. The previous record held by Meral as well was at Thailand's AOSI Age Group with a time of 31.41.

Eight national records for Maldives at World Aquatics Championships