Chentsova sets new PBT at Worlds

CNMI swimmer Victoria Chentsova capped her campaign in the 14th FINA World Championships on a bright note after recording a new personal best time in the 200m freestyle race yesterday at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.

The 13-year-old swimmer timed in at two minutes, 27.86 seconds in the 200m freestyle event, surpassing her previous PBT of 2:29.86, which she logged during the 2011 Guam Championships in May. Chentsova’s new PBT in the 200m freestyle moved her about seven seconds off the CNMI age group record (2:21.37) Nina Mosley tallied on May 5, 2004.

The Commonwealth bet was on Heat 1 of the preliminary race and topped her group, too, finishing the 200m freestyle event more than four seconds faster than her closest pursuer. Seychelles’ Aure Franchette clocked in at 2:31.88 to place second, followed by Turkmenistan’s Jennet Saryyeva (2:41.27). Tanzania’s Gouri Kotecha was also on the heat, but failed to show up for the 9am swim time.

American Allison Schmitt had the fastest qualifying time in the seven heats, timing in at 1:56.66 and stunning world and championships record holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy (1:56.87). Both swimmers advanced to the next round along with 12 others.

Chentsova’s record swim in the 200m freestyle race came a day after she took a rest and two days after she failed to eclipse her PBT in the 400m freestyle event. The Saipan Swim Club mainstay debuted in Shanghai last Sunday and posted 5:18.67 in the 400m freestyle race, more than two seconds short of her PBT 5:16.62. She came in at fourth on Heat 1.

Then in her second and last race, the Whispering Palms student timed in at 33.68 seconds in the first 50m of the 200m freestyle event and fell behind Franchette (33.13 seconds). The next 50m was a neck-and-neck battle between Chentsova (37.44 seconds) and Franchette (37.46), but the latter still led at the halfway mark of the event, posting 1:10.59 against the former’s 1:11.12).

On the third lap of the race, Chentsova managed about a second lead against Franchette, as the CNMI swimmer logged 39.09 seconds against the Seychelles’ 40.04 seconds. Then in the final 50m, Chentsova pulled away, clocking in at 37.65 seconds against Franchette’s 41.25.

With Chentsova done with her assignments, she will now watch teammates Rezne Wong and Grace Kimball compete in their respective events.

Wong will be seeing action in today’s preliminaries for the 200m individual medley.

He is entered on Heat 1 with seven other swimmers and holds a qualifying time of 2:11.81, which is the current CNMI record. The qualifying races will start at 9am (11am on Saipan).

Then tomorrow, Kimball will have her World Championships debut via the 100m freestyle race. She will be on Heat 2 with seven other swimmers and will plunge into the pool at 9am. Wong is also scheduled to race tomorrow and he will be competing in his last event, the 200m breaststroke race.

The CNMI will complete its World Championships stint this Saturday when Kimball swims in the 50m freestyle event.