A new solo record has been set in the Rottnest Channel Swim with WA's Solomon Wright breaking the elusive four-hour mark for the first time in the race's rich 62-year history.
His record came just before swimmers were pulled from the water at the 12 kilometre mark, due to a three to four metre suspected white shark being spotted nearby.
The Rottnest Channel Swim getting underway at Cottesloe on Saturday morning.
Photo: Rottnest Channel SwimSurf Life Saving WA tweeted the shark was "in the swim pack" at around 10.30am.
The Rottnest Channel Swim Association, in a statement, said the race was suspended for around 100 swimmers between the 11 to 13 kilometre marks, within one kilometre of the shark sighting, as a precaution.
"After 30 minutes of no additional shark sightings, the race is continuing as normal and race officials are monitoring all available information via the helicopters in the air and rescue vessels on the water," the statement read.
Wright finished the 19.7km open water race from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island in 3:59:28, at an average pace of 12 minutes a kilometre.
The previous channel record was set in 2000 by Mark Sabilia at 4:00:15.
Wright, aged 20, is from Bicton.
Bradley Smith, also from WA, finished in second place, nine minutes behind Wright with a time of 4:08:51.
In the women's field, Heidi Gan crossed the line first with a time of 4:21:55, with an average swim speed of 13.17 minutes per kilometre.
There was havoc for one race team, however, whose support boat sunk eight kilometres into the annual race, with its crew rescued by Fremantle Sea Rescue.
New rules were introduced to the Rottnest Channel Swim in 2012, following a spate of fatal shark attacks off WA's coast.
The revised procedures require all shark sightings to be announced to support crews, rather than previous rules which only alerted crews to large sharks believed to be a threat.
After a sighting is made, support crews near the shark are permitted to pull their swimmers out of the water.
More to come...
Heather McNeill is a Fairfax Media journalist who returned to the big smoke after a reporting stint in the Pilbara.
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