T&T’s Joshua Romany was seventh in his boys’ 50 metres freestyle heat at the third FINA Junior World Swimming Championships at Campo de Marte Complex, Swimming Pool, Lima, Peru yesterday. However, the 15-year-old Romany failed to make it to the afternoon semifinal splash as his time of 23.59, which was shy of his personal best of 23.59, was only good for 23rd spot. His time still ranked him as the top 15-year-old in the event, but had he achieved his personal best, he would have qualified for the semis. Finishing ahead of Romany in his heat were Australian Cameron Mc Envoy, who had the fastest time of all the swimmers, 22.85 followed by Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (23.00), South Africa’s Reynard Wessels (23.49), Belarusan Kukharau Arseni (23.62), Argentina’s Mateo Leonardo Maciuniak (23.65) and Brazil’s Andre Pereira (23.74) while Pawel Werner of Poland was last home in 24.10.
However, only the top five swimmers from Romany’s heat advance to the semifinals with Maciuniak, the 16th and final qualifier. Today, US-based Kimberly John-Williams, T&T’s other participant at the Championships competes in the girls’ 50m backstroke heats for which she is ranked 20th. The other swimmers in her heat, the fourth of five are Camille Gheorghiu (France), Olivia Smoliga (USA), Andrea Berrino (Argentina), Mathilde Cini (France), Yukiko Watanabe (Japan), Brooklyn Snodgrass (Canada) and Mexico’s Estela Davis Ortiz. On Tuesday she was 23rd overall in the 100m backstroke in 1:06.11 while Romany competed in the 200m freestyle on Wednesday and was 18th out of a field of 50 athletes in a time of 1:53.91 just outside his personal best of 1:53.35.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt