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Villacrusis posts one more PBT
The CNMI’s Christian Villacrusis, Lane 8, plunges into the pool during the qualifying heat for the 50m freestyle race in the 17th FINA World Championships last Friday at the Dagály Swimming Complex in Budapest, Hungary. (Contributed Photo)
The CNMI’s Christian Villacrusis capped his participation in the 17th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in record-breaking fashion.
The 17-year-old swimmer set another personal best time after completing the 50m freestyle event last Friday at the Dagály Swimming Complex in 26.61 seconds. Villacrusis old PBT was 27.02 seconds, which he registered during the 69th Annual Keo Nakama Invitational held early this month in Hawaii. The Mt. Carmel School student earlier got a PBT in the 100m breaststroke (1:16.70).
The Commonwealth swimmer was on Heat 3 of the qualifying races and ranked fifth in his group. He finished the sprint ahead of 11 other swimmers. A total of 118 joined the qualifying heats with Brazil’s Bruno Fratus recording the fastest preliminary time with his 21.51 seconds and Kenya’s Issa Abdulla Hemed Mohamed topping Heat 3 after logging 23.68 seconds. The USA’s Caeleb Ramel Dressel went on to take the gold medal after clocking in at 21. 15 seconds in the finals, while Fratus settled for the silver with his 21.27 seconds, and Great Britain’s Benjamin Proud completed the podium with his 21.43 seconds.
Meanwhile, two more CNMI swimmers also raced in their final event in the World Championships last Friday.
In the 100m butterfly, David Boyer posted 1:06.80, missing his PBT of 1:06.54. Boyer was on the Heat 2 qualifying race, which had Malta’s Mikhail Umnov as the top finisher after tallying 55.58 seconds. Dressel ruled both the preliminaries and finals after recording 50.08 and 49.86 seconds, respectively. Hungary’s Kristof Milak (50.62 seconds) won the silver medal, while Singapore’s Joseph Schooling (50.83) gained the bronze.
In the 100m freestyle, Jini Thompson timed in at 1:12:07 and defeated two swimmers on Heat 1. Mauritius’ Elodie Poo-Cheong prevailed in the group with her 58.76 seconds, while world and championships record-holder and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom registered the best qualifying time with her 53.01 seconds. However, Sjostrom was upset in the medal race, as American Manuel Simone grabbed the gold after clocking in at 52.27 seconds against the former’s 52.31 seconds. Denmark’s Pernille Blume ranked third with her 52.69 seconds. Simone finished only third in the preliminaries (53.17 seconds) and second in the semifinals (52.69 seconds) before pulling the rug under Sjostrom in the finals.
With Simone’s upset, the U.S. gained more cushion in the medal standings, leading the field with its 16 golds, 12 silvers, and 10 bronzes. Eight more medal races were scheduled last night and pending results of these events, the U.S. is ahead of China (12-12-6), Russia (11-4-7), Great Britain (5-2-3), and France (5-1-2). Rounding out the Top 10 are Australia (3-5-2), Italy (3-3-8), Brazil (2-4-2), Sweden (2-1-0), and host Hungary (1-4-2).
