Chentsova completes 400m race in Shanghai

The CNMI’s Victoria Chentsova debuted in the 14th FINA World Championship yesterday, finishing the 400m freestyle race at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.

The Commonwealth swimmer timed in at five minutes, 18.67 seconds in the 400m freestyle swim, more than two second behind her personal best time of 5:16.62.

The 13-year-old swimmer, the youngest among 38 entries in the 400m freestyle race, was on Heat 1 with Turkmenistan’s Jennet Saryyeva, Jamaica’s Victoria Ho, Peru’s Andrea Cedron and Daniela Kaori Miyahara, and Ecuador’s Samantha Arevalo. Arevalo ruled the heat with a time of 4:21.84, while Chentsova came in at fifth place.

Italy’s Federica Pellegrini had the fastest time in the qualifying heats, clocking in at 4:04.76 to lead seven others in the finals. Incidentally, the Italian swimmer holds both the championships and world records in the 400m freestyle race at 3:59.15, which she posted in 2009 in Rome.

Joining Pellegrini in the finals are France’s Camille Muffat (4:05.62), New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle (4:05.86), Denmark’s Lotte Friis (4:06.31), Australia’s Kylie Palmer (4:06.38), Spain’s Melania Costa Schmid (4:07.02), Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington (4:07.38), and the U.S.’ Kathryn Hoff (4:07.93).

Chentsova will take a rest today before joining her last event—the 200m freestyle—tomorrow , while her teammates, Rezne Wong and Grace Kimball, will be competing in their first race on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Wong’s first event will be the 200m individual medley, scheduled at 9am on Wednesday. He is on Heat 1 with seven other swimmers and holds a qualifying time of 2:11.81. Georgia’s Irakli Bolkvadze owns the fastest qualifying time on Heat 1 with his 2:13.91. Others on Wong’s heat are Albania’s Edwin Angjeli (2:09.30), Andorra’s Hociane Haciane, Morocco’s Morad Berrada (2:07.28), Slovakia’s Pavol Jelenak (2:07.97), El Salvador’s Rafael Ferracuti (2:09.35), and Fiji’s Paul Elaisa (2:22.24).

Kimball’s first race is the 100m freestyle race and she is on Heat 2 with seven others. The 15-year-old swimmer’s qualifying time in the 100m freestyle sprint is 1:08.09. She will be racing against the Cook Island’s Celeste Brown (1:06.00), Tanzania’s Gouri Kotecha (1:05.10), Senegal’s Marema Faye (1:04.25), Monaco’s Amelie Trinquier (1:05.04), Tanzania’s Magdalena Moshi (1:05.20), Tahiti’s Kuheilani Snow (1:06.50), and Palau’s Keesha Keane (1:08.45).

Kimball’s second and last race will be the 50m freestyle event this Saturday, two days after Wong competes in the 200m breaststroke.