Today was another great day of performance from our young swimming team.
The majority made the A and B finals with 3 Oceania medals, 5 Island medals and 2 national records broken!
Our first 2 Oceania medal came from Taichi Vakasama and Epeli Rabua in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke. Taichi finished 1 second faster than what he clocked in the heats. Herbert also fought hard in the water to squeeze himself into third place today dethroning his Australian opponent.
Our third Oceania medal was from the 4×50 Mixed Medley relay. The team consisted of Netani Ross, Epeli Rabua, Moana Wind and Cheyenne Rova.
Other medals (Island medals) today came from Yolani Blake winning gold in the women 50m Backstroke, Netani Ross winning Silver in his Men 50m Backstroke, Rosemary winning silver and Cheyenne winning bronze in the Women 100m Freestyle,with Moana bagging a bronze in the women 100m Breaststroke.
National records were broken today as well by Hansel McCaig clocking a 29.52 in the Men 50m Backstroke breaking Temafa Yalimaiwai’s Record of 30.17 which was set in 2016.
Our second national record that was smashed today came from Rosemarie Rova who broke an 11 year old record set by Rachael AhKoy. The old record was 1:00.12. Rosemarie today set a new time of 1:00.01.
Overall the team made 11 ‘A’ Finals and 3 ‘B’ finals after the heats this morning.
YOUNG DEBUTANTES SHINE IN THE POOL
Some of our young swimmers who are participating for the first time did superbly well today. Calum Lobendahn continued to clock massive personal best times in his individual events.
Another young swimmer who is turning a lot of head is Jayzon Requina. Requina also showed pure confidence when he participated in his events today including the finals.
A few more of our upcoming swimming stars are slowly settling into the competition atmosphere and have gained a lot of confidence. We are expecting that the performance from our senior swimmers will be a motivation to these young ones as we enter the 3rd day of competition.
Click here for Day 2’s session 3 and session 4’s results.
Story by: Lucy Erasito, Fiji Swimming (27/06/2018)