De Jesus, Sugie notch PBTs

The CNMI’s Angel De Jesus capped the Commonwealth’s campaign in the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia with a personal best time in the 50m freestyle.

The CNMI’s Angel De Jesus races in the 50m freestyle event in the 16th FINA World Championships at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia last week. (Mike Marron)

De Jesus was on Lane 8, Heat 3 of the qualifying races for the sprint event last Aug. 7 (Aug. 8 on Saipan) and clocked in at 30.57 seconds to surpass her seed time/PBT of 30.68 seconds and the 31.01 seconds she registered in her debut in the world championship in Barcelona, Spain, in 2013.

“It was difficult but I did well … I cut 0.11 seconds off my ‘C’ time. I wanted to get 29 seconds, but updating my personal best is OK for me”, De Jesus was quoted as saying in an interview with Mike Marron of The Reporters’ Academy.

The 16-year-old had a 65-second reaction time off the blocks en route to placing seventh in her heat and beating two other swimmers. Tanzania’s Magdalena Moshi ruled the heat after submitting 29.62 seconds, while Australia’s Cate Campbell recorded the fastest qualifying time (24.40 seconds), and the former’s younger sister Bronte won the gold medal in the 50m freestyle event with a time of 24.12 seconds).

The 50m freestyle was De Jesus’ second event in the biennial tournament. She had her first last Aug. 6 and also set a PBT in the 50m butterfly after recording 33.86 seconds. The Marianas High School student, whose previous PBT read at 34.99 seconds, was third on Heat 1 and finished ahead of two other swimmers in her group. World record holder Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden topped the qualifying field with her time of 25.43 seconds and she also took the gold medal in the event after submitting 24.96 seconds in the finals.

Meanwhile, Takumi Sugie duplicated De Jesus’ feat in the 50m freestyle after timing in at 27.26 seconds on Heat 2 of the qualifying races for the sprint swim last Aug. 7.

Sugie eclipsed his old PBT of 27.56 seconds and was ranked second on his heat behind Palau’s Shawn Wallace Dingilius (27.02 seconds).

“I gave it all I could today (last Saturday), so I’m really happy with that—a personal best. Just going forward was the only thing I thought of after I dived in,” Takumi said in an interview with The Reporters’ Academy.

“I’ve been watching all the swimmers and I got some great tips from them. I guess I improved,” he added.

Sugie also joined the 100m freestyle race last Aug. 5 and he timed in at 1:00.23, falling short in breaking his personal best time (59.95 seconds).