4 picked for FINA World Championships

From left, Jinnosuke Suzuki,Shoko Litulumar, Maria Batallones, and Isaiah Aleksenko will represent the CNMI in the 2022 FINA World Championships in Melbourne next month. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation has selected four swimmers to represent the NMI in the 2022 FINA World Championships in Melbourne next month. 

The four swimmers are Isaiah Aleksenko, Jinnosuke Suzuki, Maria Batallones, and Shoko Litulumar. 

Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan coach Hiro Kimura will be accompanying the swimmers as coach and Hiroko Tenorio will travel with the team as NMISF representative. 

The federation is appreciative that FINA and Oceania Swimming support covers the majority of the cost for the delegation to travel to Australia.

Kimura is excited that NMI swimmers are finally again able to experience competing in off-island meets. 

“Now that COVID-19 is almost ending, one of the big expectations is international exchange for young athletes because there has been almost nothing in the past three years,” he said.

Kimura added that Aleksenko, Suzuki, Batallones, and Litulumar should mark faster times than other swimmers from the same region—Micronesia first and then Oceania. 

“The World Championships is a precious opportunity for all Micronesia/Oceania countries to meet together. What is the swimming level of other countries? We can watch it live and NMI swimmers can actually swim with them. We will try to aim for the top among Micronesia countries. They are our good friends, but they are also great rivals.”

He added that he actually has a list of the national/age group records from Guam, FSM, and Palau. 

“I expect everyone to set a target time and achieve it in this World Championships.”

As for the events they will compete in, Suzuki will swim in the 100m and 200m freestyle, Aleksenko will swim in the 100m and 200m butterfly, Batallones will swim in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, and Litulumar will swim in the 50 and 100m backstroke. All four will also compete in the medley and freestyle relays.

Aleksenko, Suzuki, Batallones, and Litulumar are humbled after being picked to represent the CNMI in the  2022 FINA World Championships.

“I’m very proud of myself for making it and I’m very excited to experience this trip. My expectation is to at least get my best times and get some records and maybe place in my heat,” said Aleksenko.

“I am super excited to go to Melbourne. I am happy that I got picked because all the hard work paid off,” said Suzuki.

Ditto for Litulumar, who said, “I am feeling excited and pumped for getting chosen. I expect myself to do my best and show good results because I know the effort I put in practice won’t let me down. Staying strong, safe, and healthy will be my No. 1 priority before the race.” 

Batallones’ goal is to update her current records and her best times. 

“Since this is my second big competition, I expect another great experience like meeting new people and getting to compete in such a big competition. I am more than looking forward to this, I am more than excited to represent the NMI again!”

“I feel very proud of my accomplishment. Being chosen is one of the good accomplishments I have accomplished. I am proud of myself and my team. We worked so hard and we can finally put that work into this competition. It is exciting because this is my second world championship and my first short course world championship,” she added.