Annamay Pierse broke her own Canadian record in the women's 100-metre breaststroke on Friday to open the Mel Zajac International swimming competition.
The Vancouver swimmer clocked a time of one minute 07.32 seconds to eclipse her previous national mark of 1:07.78 set in August 2007 at the Pan Am Games.
Ariana Kukors of the U.S. was second in 1:08.12, while Ashley Wanland, also of the U.S., finished third in 1:09.76.
An Olympic finalist last year in Beijing, Pierse was racing for the first time since breaking the world short-course record in the 200-metre breaststroke in March.
"It was pretty important for me to get the long course season off to a good start,' said the Pierse, 25. "It was a little nerve-wracking being the first race since the world record and seeing how I was going to do.
"I don't have a lot of races before the worlds, so I want to make them count."
