World Aquatics Championship
GOLDEN boy Raekwon Noel has again lowered the country’s national record in the men’s 100 metres butterfly with a time of 53.91 second at the World Aquatics Championship in Singapore on Friday.
Noel, who is one of the country’s two representatives at the Championship finished 4th place in his heat behind Jesse Sengonzi of Uganda, Josh Kirlew of Jamaica and Samuel Kostal who stopped the clock at 53.32, 53.68 and 53.68 respectively.
The previous national record was 54 seconds flat.
Despite his fabulous run Noel finished 45 out of 75 swimmers in the men’s 100 metres butterfly and missed out on qualification for the semi-final round, with only the top 16 swimmers advancing.
Noel produced his best butterfly swim earlier this week finishing at the top of the podium in his event with a personal best time and national record of 1 minute 59.89 seconds at the PANAM championship earlier this year.
Noel had qualified for the championship directly are achieving the B Standard time; as Persaud is still not up to her best after setting the national record in the event of 1 minute 00.67 seconds at the World Championships in 2023 in Japan.
The meet completes a tough competition for Persaud who was not able to replicate her previous best performances.
In her women’s 100-metre butterfly this week, she swam a pedestrian 1:06.49 seconds. It was below her 1 minute 04.93 set earlier this year at the Barbados invitational meet. Both swimmers represented Guyana at the Paris Olympic games.
The swimmers are accompanied by Coach Sean Baksh and Guyana Amateur Swimming Association president Yolema Phillips who is attending the World Aquatics Congress.