Filipino swimmers set new records in Singapore

SWIMMER Jessie King Lacuna grabbed his third gold medal in the 41st Singapore’s National Age-Group Championship after clocking in 2:03.01 in the 200-meter fly, according to Philippine Aquatics Association (PASA) President Mark Joseph.

Jasmine Alkhaldi had 57.12 time in the 100-meter freestyle to shatter Christel Simms’ 59.19 record set in Beijing and she also set another record in the 50-meter freestyle after marking a 26.56 time that erased her old time 26.60 in Laos Southeast Asian Games.

Banjo Borja also copped a bronze medal in the 200-meter breastroke with a time of 2:25.26. All swimmers have achieved qualifying Youth Olympic Games B qualification times.

The 16-year-old Lacuna on Sunday won the boys’ 100-meter freestyle in 52.13 seconds. He erased the record of Singaporean Mark Chay of 52.67 in the 1999 edition.

Lacuna topped the 200-meter freestyle final on Friday in one minute and 51.20 seconds for his first gold medal and settled for silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle following his timing of 3:59.75, just .73 seconds behind eventual champion Haruki Washio of Japan.

Josef T. Ramos