Updated 12 March 2025
Barry Young was twice listed by the magazine, Swimming World, as being one of the top ten Masters swimmers in the world and, in 2010, he was the first and so far (2025) the only NZ Masters swimmer to be inducted into the FINA World Swimming Hall of Fame. Barry was undoubtedly the top Masters swimmer in New Zealand from 1984 until he passed away at the age of 75 in 2014. I suggest that Barry had been the best Masters competitor ever in any sport in New Zealand. It is a shame that the Halberg Awards did not include a Masters category prior to 2014.
Barry and I took videos of each other's swimming at the Centennial Pool in Newmarket, Auckland NZ, in 2001. The lighting conditions were not ideal and we had to share a lane with other swimmers. Note that Barry's breaststroke was later on modified by Don Bidwell, a fellow Masters swimmer, as was his butterfly by Dix Ozier, also a fellow masters swimmer. Barry set World Masters Records in Backstroke, Medley, and Butterly over multip[le age groups spanning from 45 to 75. He would have set a World Masters Record in the shortcourse 200 metres breaststroke if the pool had been perfectly rectangular. The lane he swam in was 1 cm short.