EIGHT year- old Aleka Persaud yesterday continued her record breaking performance at the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Independence National Long Course Championships when the event continued at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC), Liliendaal.Persaud swam to 47.56 seconds in the girls’ 8 and under 50m breaststroke which supersedes the currently standing 48.99 seconds record, that Persaud herself had set back in February at the GASA Mashramani meet. However, this new record remains unofficial until sanction by the GASA technical committee.
Meanwhile, the Silver Shark Swim Club swimmer also did well in her other event for the day, the 100m freestyle, where she superseded her personal best timings, setting the new time at 1:24.84s.
Persaud was among a number of swimmers, including Antonio Hussein, Leon Seaton and Amy Grant, who managed to produce new personal best timings in their events, while also winning gold in all their events.
Hussein swam 1:04.73s in the boys’ 13 – 13 100m freestyle, while in the 50m breaststroke the 37.22 seconds swim overtook his previous 40.28 seconds PB. Coming in second place in the event was Nathon Hackett who finished in 37.94 seconds.
Hussein also ended with a first place performance in the 100m butterfly where he clocked 1:14.50s, while Hackett took a first place in 100m breaststroke where he clocked 1:25.03s.
Grant, swimming in the girls 13 – 14 category outdid both her seed time and her competitors too in all three of the events she participated in for the day. The thirteen year old swam to a first place finish in the 400m freestyle (6:02.44s), the 100m butterfly (1:32.50s) and the 100m freestyle (1:12.37s).
In the boys’ 9 – 10 100m freestyle, Seaton ended the race in first place ahead of Dorado’s Noel Raekwon in a personal best time of 1:10.94s. Seaton also won gold in the 100m breaststroke (1:39.59s) and 50m breaststroke (44.35s).
Competition in the event continues tomorrow with sessions in the afternoon and in the morning.