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Chentsova finishes strong in World Champs
CNMI swimmers and their coach Valrick Welch, right, pose for a photo with the Palau delegates to the 17th FINA World Championships in Hungary. (Contributed Photo)
CNMI swimmer Victoria Chentsova raced in her last event in the 17th FINA World Championships and posted a faster time in the 100m backstroke.
The 19-year-old athlete clocked in at 1:14.32 on Heat 1 of the 100m backstroke qualifiers last Monday night at the Dagály Swimming Complex in Budapest Hungary. Her time surpassed the 1:16.86 she posted during the preliminary race in the XI Oceania Championships in Fiji last year and the 1:16.41 in the finals of the same event.
Chentsova was also ranked sixth in her heat and defeated four other swimmers entered in the two-lap race, including Guam’s Amanda Poppe (1:18.24). Madagascar’s Elody Marlon Razafy topped the heat with her 1:07.49, while Canada’s Kylie Jacqueline Masse registered the best qualifying time in the 100m backstroke after submitting 58.62 seconds on Heat 6. The Canadian also led the qualifiers to the medal race with an even faster time of 58.18 seconds in the semifinals.
In other results, Jinju Thompson completed her first race in the World Championships after joining the preliminaries in the 200m freestyle. She capped the four-lap race in 2:36.47, missing her personal best time of 2:33.74.
Thompson was on Heat 1, which Arianna Sanna of Dominican Republic won after clocking in at 2:08.45. World and championships record-holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy was the overall first finisher in the qualifiers after posting 1:56.07, while rival Katie Ledecky of the U.S. came in next after registering 1:56.27. Pellegrini and Ledecky raced in the semifinals along with 14 other swimmers and results of last night’s competition were unavailable at press time.
Meanwhile, David Boyer will join the preliminary races in the 100m freestyle today. Boyer is on Heat 4 and will debut against Afghanistan’s Hamid Rahimi, Guinea’s Omar Kaba, Palestine’s Nabeel Hatoum, Grenada’s Karry Ollivierre, Brunei’s Christian Nikles, Lebanon’s Anthony Souaiby, Monaco’s Theo Chiabaut, the Federated States of Micronesia’s Kaleo Kihleng, and Benin’s Jefferson Kpanou.
