Isaiah bags 50m butterfly bronze

Isaiah Aleksenko completed his own resurrection in swimming after bagging a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly in the 47th Junior Olympic Cup at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Japan.

Swimming his first event last March 29, the 17-year-old Marianas High School student and Saipan Community School alumnus finished third with a time 23.46 behind 18-year-olds Shouon Mitsunaga (23.11) and Rento Touge (23.31), both of Japan. Aleksenko’s 23.46 also marked a new CNMI short course national record.

Aleksenko, who finished fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 23.87, said the 50m butterfly race was so close but fun at the same time.

“It was a fun event because of how close the race was. I was very surprised and happy because now that I think of it, I’m basically the third fastest 18-and-under male in Japan which is crazy to think about. I want to thank God, my mom; my family; my coach and his wife; Kensuke [Kimura], who is my coach’s son, because he helped me throughout the event; as well as my teammates for being so supportive.”

Asked if the bronze medal atoned for his disqualification in the 200m individual medley in last February’s 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Aleksenko said it definitely did.

“Ever since the DQ I have been practicing harder and harder so this is definitely a redemption from the World Champs.”

Coach Hiroyuki Kimura said Aleksenko’s first race in the Junior Olympic Cup was an extremely high-speed race and was a real dog fight.

“I’m super happy, of course he is very happy and he got higher motivation for his 100m butterfly the next day. The 50m butterfly is a little bit hard for him because he is not a sprinter. Though Isaiah is very fast even in a short sprint event, top junior sprinters in Japan have the sprint event as their No. 1 style. However, Isaiah survived to the finals, then won a bronze medal in the finals. It was more than amazing,” he said.

Results of Aleksenko’s 100m butterfly event on March 30 will be published in the next issue of Saipan Tribune.