‘I really wanted the gold, and I got it’

HONIARA, Solomon Islands—Isaiah Aleksenko held CNMI’s flag high and proud in the opening ceremony then showed it off on the podium as he stunned the South Pacific with the gold medal and broke the long-standing 35-year CNMI national record in the 200m butterfly event last Wednesday during the 2023 Pacific Games.

Even without an official pool to train in back home, Aleksenko’s time of 2:05.86 broke the old standard of 2:25.48 made in 1988 by CNMI Sports Hall of Famer and Pan American Games USA swimmer Jonathan Sakovich.

The 6’0” high school senior flew through the 50m pool at break-neck speed and left of the field choking on his fumes as he cruised past and humbled silver medalist Tahiti’s Nael Roux, who clocked in at 2:09.52. Bronze went to New Caledonia’s Baptiste Savignac with a time of 2:11.80.

Roux tried to keep pace with Aleksenko in the first two laps as he was merely milliseconds behind, but Aleksenko disposed of him in the final laps with more than enough time to spare.

The 17-year-old had already broken the national record in the preliminaries in the morning when he clocked in at 2:08.96—after not even taking it too seriously—and still managed to shave off three seconds in the finals that evening to set a newer standard.

The CNMI team tent exploded into cheers in celebration as Aleksenko splashed the water in triumph once his face showed on the big screen after winning gold. In the awards ceremony after his event, the national anthem of the CNMI rang throughout the Aquatics Center for the hundreds in attendance. After, he was interviewed by media and was asked how he felt winning gold for the CNMI.

The Marianas High School senior showed a lot of emotion in the interview with Saipan Tribune as he was happy that he won gold. He said he was nervous in his event because, “I really wanted the gold, and I got it.”

About his swim, he said, “I felt good in the first 100m and then as soon as I turned, it was hard—it was like a mind game. I saw the Tahiti guy was kind of close so then I was like ‘oh, I gotta step up my game a bit,’ but then the last 50m, it was really challenging because I tried not to give up and sprint it.”

Going up against the best of the best swimmers in Oceania and beating them all, the swimmer of 12 years said, “it feels good. Now I know where I’m at. I’m the top swimmer of the 200m [butter]fly in Oceania. I think those people didn’t expect it too.”

Being up on the podium with the flag up there for everyone to see and the national anthem playing for everyone to hear, Aleksenko said, “it felt good. I’m really happy people got to see our flag. I’m happy to represent Saipan. I did this for God, my mom, my family, and for my island. I hope they’re happy too and I feel honored to represent our island.”

As for how it felt not only getting gold but breaking the old record set 35 years ago, he said, “I’m happy. It was a long-standing record, and I broke it after 35 years, and I hope I hold that record for longer. I was going for both gold and the record but mostly the gold because I knew if I got gold, I would’ve gotten the record as well.”

He then thanked God, his mom Yulia, his family, his coach, Hiroyuki Kimura, his wife Yuko, and his teammates for supporting him and giving him strength.

Kimura said they’re happy about the gold, but disappointed that they couldn’t reach their goal time. “We are super happy to have won gold, but we had set our goal time much higher, so it was disappointing that we couldn’t reach it. In the next 50m meet, we will challenge ourselves again.”

“I’ve been coaching Isaiah for 13 years since he was 5 years old. However, this gold medal was the result of his own hard work, almost never taking time off from practice. This is also the result of his mother, who never let him rest and took him to practice every day. Not only to Isaiah, but also to Yulia, his mom, I would like to say, congratulations,” said Kimura. “This gold medal is truly for Isaiah and his mom.”

For his part, coach Richard Sikkel said on Aleksenko’s win, “That is all coach Hiro’s doing. Awesome win for Isaiah. Couldn’t be happier for him. Great motivator for the rest of the team.”

In other results that night, Kean Pajarillaga finished seventh with a time of 2:18.13 in the 200m backstroke. Pajarillaga broke the record for 17-18-year-olds and the national record in the prelims earlier with a time of 2:16.40. Meanwhile, Juhn Tenorio finished fourth at 2:14.79 in the same event.

Shoko Litulumar finished last in the women’s 200m backstroke with a time of 2:44.43.

As of 7:30pm last night, the CNMI’s total medal tally remained at seven—two gold, one silver, and four bronze.