Welch, Villacrusis drop times anew

Salofi Welch broke his entry times in two events on Day 2 of the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Salofi Welch and Christian Villacrusis picked up where they left off as they surpassed their entry times again on Day 2 of the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada.

Villacrusis and Welch, who broke their seed times in the 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke races during the opening day of the tournament last Tuesday (Wednesday on Saipan) at the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre in Ontario, had the same achievement in the 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle events yesterday morning.

The two Commonwealth swimmers were on Heat 2 of the qualifying races for the 100m butterfly event with Villacrusis finishing the four-lap contest ahead of Welch after clocking in at 1:08.2. Villacrusis’ time was more than five seconds faster than his entry time of 1:13.03. Welch also eclipsed his seed time (1.09.90) after registering 1:09.66. Both swimmers defeated Tanzania’s Joseph Richard Sumari, who checked in at 1:16.25.

Dominican Republic’s Dioser Nunez won Heat 2 after posting 57.46 seconds, but he missed the cut for the semis as only the Top 16 in the 10 heats combined advanced. In the semifinal round, which was divided into two groups, only eight moved into the medal round. Australia’s David Morgan was the first finalist in Group 1 after recording 50.06 seconds in the semis, while France’s Jeremy Starvius (50.28) and Japan’s Takeshi Kawamoto (50.54) also marched into the medal race, which was set last night. In Group 2 semis, Great Britain’s Adam Barrett (49.21 seconds) was the top finisher and was joined by the U.S.’ Tom Shields (49.46), South Africa’s Chad leClos (49.84), Australia’s Tommaso D’Orsogna (50.39), and France’s Mehdy Metella (50.46) in the finals of the 100m butterfly race.

In the 200m freestyle, Welch’s record was about five second better than his seed time (2.15.36) as he touched the wall at the 2:10.87 mark. He was on Heat 1 and again finished ahead of Sumari (2:30.15). Denmark’s Anders Lie Nielson ruled Heat 1 after clocking in at 1:43.81.

On Heat 2, Villacrusis logged 2:11.82 to break his entry time of 2.13.11. Guatemala’s Emilio Avila prevailed on Villacrusis’ heat as the former checked in at 1:55.55. Heat 9 runner-up Taekwan Park of South Korea pulled off an upset in the finals of the 200m freestyle event after timing in at 1:41.03 and taking the gold medal away from the favored LeClos (1:41.65) and Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:41.95).

In other results, the CNMI’s Angel De Jesus had only one event on Day 2 of the competition. She raced in the 100m freestyle and recorded 1:06.97 on Heat 3 to beat Maldives’ Aminath Shajan, who submitted 1:07.43.

Tanzania’s Sonia Tumiotto (1:00.47) won Heat 3 of the women’s 100m freestyle race, which also had its semifinal round yesterday morning. In the Semis 1, Australia’s Brittanu Elmslie (52.19 seconds), Japan’s Rikako Ekee (52.47), Canada’s Sandrine Mainville (52.58), and China’s Menghui Zhu (52.90) finished in the Top 4 to move into the finals against Semis 2 qualifiers Penny Oleksiak (52.19) of Canada, Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.76) of the Netherlands, Federica Pellegrini (52.77) of Italy, and Veronika Popova (52.94) of Russia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. leads the medal tally in the short course (25-meter pool) tournament, pending results of last night’s finals. The Americans have a 3-3-2 gold-silver-bronze haul to pace the 176-nation field. Russia is in close second with its two golds, three silvers, and one bronze, while Hungary is at third place with its 3-1-1 tally. Italy is the fourth country that has won at least one gold and it also took two silvers and one bronze, while host Canada has one silver and two bronzes. China and Australia have one gold apiece along with the two bronzes for the former and one for the latter, while South Korea has two gold medals.