Déjà vu as Noel clinches 200 butterfly gold medal

OLYMPIAN Raekwon Noel doubled up on his gold medal performance by taking the top step in the 200m butterfly at the Panam Aquatics Championships in Colombia on Thursday.

Noel, coming off his gold in the 100m butterfly, added the 200m metres butterfly gold to his record.

Coming off the final turn he put in a strong showing to finish in a new national record of 2 minutes 02.52 seconds ahead Andres Brooks and Mark Van Eybergen.

Noel held the old national 200m butterfly record of 2.05.65, achieved at the world championships in Japan in July 2023.

He is also on course to add to his medal haul after a superb showing in the men’s 100m backstroke and 400m freestyle on Friday.

Noel, jumping into the pool out of lane five of the first heat, stopped the clock in 56.88 seconds which is another national record in the 100m backstroke event to advance to the finals

He erased his old mark of 57.72 set at the ASATT Invitational in December of 2023.

In his 400m freestyle event, Noel continued in his rich vein of form with a first place in his heat with another record, this time breaking the mark set at the Paris Olympics

He beat off Sebastian Perez and Mark Eybergen to second and third places.

He will aim to replicate the effort in the other two finals

On Wednesday, Noel captured gold in the men’s 100 metres butterfly in 54 seconds flat to clinch the new national record in the event to go with the top-of-the-podium finish.

While Shareefah Lewis went close to her personal best on Friday in the women’s 16-18 50m butterfly which she finished in 31.44 seconds, marginally better than her entry time of 31.83 seconds.

Earlier in the competition, she finished eighth in the women’s 16-18 50m backstroke final in a time of 33.47 seconds.

Lewis will return to action in the 50m freestyle with the swimming championships concluding on May 25th.

The two swimmers are accompanied by Coach Mary Chung and congress representative  Abigail Gittens