Strong finish for NMI swimmers

Victoria Chentsova, seen here racing in a local tournament early this year, beat her qualifying time in the 400m freestyle event in the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25M) last Friday at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha, Qatar. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Victoria Chentsova raced in the 400m freestyle swim for her last event at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha, Qatar, last Friday and submitted 4:47.05 to eclipse her qualifying time of 4:53.64. The 16-year-old swimmer was on Heat 1, had a split time of 2:21.31, and finished fourth in her group, placing ahead of Albania’s Diana Basho (4:47.52), Antigua and Barbuda’s Samantha Roberts (4:59.52), and Sri Lanka’s Chamodi De Fonseka (5:01.43).

The new best time in the 400m freestyle was Chentsova’s second as she also shattered her qualifying mark in the 800m freestyle. The Saipan International School student clocked in at 9:55.15 in last Thursday’s qualifying race, around 17 seconds faster than her qualifying time (10:11.26).

Chentsova’s fellow CNMI swimmers—Christian Villacrusis and Takumi Sugie—had their final event last Saturday. Both male swimmers joined the 100m freestyle qualifying races and were on the same heat (2).

Sugie broke the one-minute barrier, completing the 100m freestyle race in 59.38 and placing fourth in the heat behind Seychelle’s Adam Moncherry (58.22 seconds), Tonga’s Tongli Panuve (58.46), and Nepal’s Mirah Prajapati (58.64). Sugie also crushed his qualifying time (1:00.67).

Villacrusis duplicated Sugie’s feat as the former registered 1:00.88, about five seconds faster than his qualifying time of 1:05.29. The 14-year-old Villacrusis finished ahead of Laos’ Pathana Inthavong (1:01.66), Burundi’s Idriss Mutakabandi (1:03.60), and Guyana’s Andrew Fowler (1:04.48).

Villacrusis earlier surpassed his qualifying time in the 100m breaststroke event (1:22.35), recording 1:18.93 last Wednesday, while Sugie also had a faster mark in his first swim (50m freestyle) in the five-day competition.

Sugie completed the sprint race in 26.94 seconds last Thursday and was ranked third on Heat 2 behind Panuve (26.52 seconds) and Prajapati (26.86). The Commonwealth bet defeated five other swimmers in his heat.

Meanwhile, 17 world records have been set after four days of competition in Doha. A few more world marks were expected to fall, as the event held the finals of five individual races last night.

In the medal tally, Hungary had the lead after last Saturday’s races with its six golds, two silvers, and one bronze. Spain is in second place with its 4-0-0 tally, followed by the Netherlands (3-1-5), Brazil (3-1-2), and France (3-1-2). The favored U.S. is out of the Top 5, as it is currently ranked seventh, but has the most medals with its 2-6-5 tally.