TOP Olympic swimming prospect Raekwon Noel set a new national record in the men’s 100-meter butterfly with a finish of 56.24 seconds at the ongoing World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Qatar.

The previous national record of 56.35 seconds was set at last year’s Mashramani meet by Noel.

The CARFITA gold medalist delivered a near perfect swim to take a top three finish in his final race at this year’s World Aquatics Championship.

Noel, coming out of lane two, finished strong to grab second place behind St Lucia Jayhan Odlum-Smith who stopped the clock first in 55.66 seconds
Third went to Nigeria’s Clinton Opute with a time of 56.95.

The finish by Noel was stark improvement on his World Aquatics recognised personal best time of PB of one minute and 25 seconds.

That new PB was however not good enough to earn him a place in the semifinals with the last qualified athletes finishing in 52.46 seconds.

He clinched first place in his 100M freestyle on Wednesday in 52.56 seconds but didn’t advance to the semifinals with the time.

Meanwhile, Olympian Aleka Persaud who finished 8th in the 100m freestyle on Wednesday is back in the pool today (Saturday).

The Guyanese who competed in the 50m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympic, is expected to put on a better showing in the 50m freestyle where she holds the national record with a time of 27.42 seconds.

The country’s number one female swimmer Persaud was not at the best in her first race at the championship, finishing in one minute and 02.20 seconds.

Both athletes qualified via wild card spots for the World Aquatics Championship.