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NMI swimmers start bid in Worlds today
From left, coach Jacoby Winkfield, Victoria Chentsova, Takumi Sugie, and Christian VIllacrusis, pose for a photo before leaving Saipan for Qatar last Saturday to compete in the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25M) at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Villacrusis is entered in the qualifying heat in the 100m breaststroke event, which is scheduled to start at 9:30am (4:30pm Saipan time). The Mt. Carmel School student is one of the three Commonwealth swimmers competing in the short course tournament that will run until Dec. 7. Saipan International School’s Victoria Chentsova and Takumi Sugie are the two others.
The three CNMI swimmers left Saipan for Doha last Saturday and were joined in Qatar by coach Jacoby Winkfield and Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation president John Hirsh. Angel De Jesus and David Boyer completed the delegation, but instead of competing they are attending the event’s youth program (seminar), which will also run from Dec. 3 to 7.
Besides Villacrusis’ 100m breaststroke swim, nine other events are also lined up in the opening day of the meet. The list includes the men’s 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, and 4x100m freestyle relay and the women’s 50m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 400m individual medley, and 4x200m freestyle.
Tomorrow, there will nine events and the CNMI will join two races. Sugie will compete in the qualifying swim in the 50m freestyle, while Chentsova will race in the 800m freestyle. Both events are scheduled for 9:30am. Semifinals and finals races are set for 6pm.
For the third day of the competition, Chentsova will have her second and last event—the 400m freestyle—while in Day 4 this Saturday, both Sugie and Villacrusis will participate in the qualifying races in the 100m freestyle event.
The three CNMI swimmers are among the more than 1,000 athletes from 171 countries seeing action in the fourth edition of the short course event. Also included on the list is 11-time Olympic medallist and short course specialist Ryan Lochte of the U.S. team. Joining Lochte on the favored U.S. squad are fellow Olympic champions Breeja Larson and Conor Dwyer.
Other notable swimmers competing in the five-day tournament are Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, Daniel Gyurta, and Laszlo Cseh, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Cameron Van Der Burgh, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte, and Denmark’s Lotte Friis.
Meanwhile, the Aquatics Convention Doha 2014 is also being held in Qatar and it started last Saturday. Hirsh is the CNMI’s representative to the convention and he also attended the FINA Congress. FINA president Dr. Julio C. Maglione and the secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee Sheik Saoud Al-Thani led the opening of the convention, while FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu facilitated the first day of the event.
