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CNMI starts World Championships campaign Sunday
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Posted on Jul 20 2011
The CNMI will be seeing action in 14th FINA World Championships starting this Sunday at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.
Victoria Chentsova will be the first CNMI swimmer to compete in the biennial event, as she joins the qualifying heat for the 400m freestyle race on July 24 at 9am (11am Saipan time). Chentsova and fellow swimmers Rezne Wong and Grace Kimball and coach Michael Villagomez left Saipan yesterday for a connecting flight to the Philippines and are expected to reach Shanghai this morning.
The list of qualifying heats for the 400m freestyle race has yet to be released, but once she competes in the qualifier, Chentsova will be gunning to eclipse her personal best time in the event (5:16.62.).
The 13-year-old swimmer will only have a day rest after joining the 400m freestyle race, as she is scheduled to swim in the 200m freestyle qualifying heat on July 26, also at 9am.
Next to compete for the CNMI in the World Championships is Wong, who is entered in the 200m individual medley qualifying heat slated on July 27 at 9am. Wong holds the CNMI record in the 200m IM at 2:11.89.
The University of Hawaii-Manoa swim team member will complete his third World Championship stint through the 200m breaststroke race set for July 28. Wong also owns the CNMI mark in the 200m breaststroke at 2:24.94.
Kimball will debut in the World Championship on July 28 via the 100m freestyle race. The 15-year-old swimmer will aim to surpass her PBT in the 100m freestyle, which stands at 1:08.09. Kimball’s last event will be the 50m freestyle on July 30. Her best time in that sprint race is 30.64 seconds.
The swimming competition will run from July 24 to 31 with 40 gold medals at stake in the pool events. Diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water swim had already started last Sunday. Over 2,000 athletes from 181 countries are competing in the World Championships and host China so far leads the medal standings with its 6-5-0 gold-silver-bronze medal tally. Russia is at second with its 3-1-1 count, while Greece occupies the third spot with its one gold and one bronze. Great Britain is only the fourth country so far to win a gold medal in the Shanghai tournament.
