Sport: Brenda’s Best

An ex-champ chipped a bit of gilt off her successor’s fame last week. Brenda Helser, one of Coach Jack Cody’s Portland (Ore.) protégées, was the nation’s swiftest woman sprint swimmer a year ago; then along came another West Coast mermaid, Ann Curtis (TIME, April 23), and snatched away her indoor and outdoor titles.

Last week at Pasadena, beauteous Brenda seemed a cinch to win the Pacific Coast A.A.U. 100-yd. free-style championship, with arch-rival Ann not entered in the race. But Brenda had to put every last ounce of energy into the final lap to beat Marilyn Sahner of San Francisco by a stroke in 1:02.3. That clipped two-tenths of a second off Ann Curtis’ U.S. record.