Home|Sports|Gibbs 14th overall in 50m breastSports
FINA World Junior Championships get underway; more Bahamians in action today
Simba FrenchSend an emailAugust 31, 2022 312 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Rhanishka Gibbs placed eighth in her semifinal of the girls 50 meters (m) breaststroke event, and was 14th overall, with a time of 33.46 seconds at the 8th edition of the FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Junior Championships at the VIDENA Aquatics Center in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday night.
Gibbs swam out of lane eight in a semifinal that had five swimmers qualify for the final eight spots. She had one of the fastest reaction times of 0.61 seconds but could not keep up with her counterparts.
Winning that semifinal heat was Poland’s Karolina Piechowicz who clocked 31.50 seconds. She came in with the fastest qualifying time of 31.64 seconds.
It was a great accomplishment for the 16-year-old Bahamian who is swimming in her first FINA World Junior Championships. She was unable to lower her personal best time of 33.15 seconds – a time she swam back in April at the 35th CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Wildey, Barbados, but she did advance out of the heats.
Gibbs was the first Bahamian to experience action in the pool yesterday, swimming out of lane six in the sixth heat in the morning session. It was one of the fastest heats. Swimming the one pool length race, Gibbs touched the wall in 33.47 seconds to place sixth in that heat. It was enough to secure the second to last qualifying spot for the semis.
There were two Bahamians who competed in the boys 100m breaststroke – Erald Thompson III and Emmanuel Gadson. Thompson swam a personal best time of 1:07.34 with splits of 31.10 and 36.24 seconds. It was enough to place him second in the fourth heat and 22nd overall out of 47 swimmers. Gadson was eighth in the fifth heat as he clocked a personal best of 1:07.50. He registered splits of 31.33 and 36.17 seconds. Overall, he finished 25th.
Austria’s Luka Mladenovic had the fastest qualifying time of 1:02.29 for the semifinals.
Keianna Moss was next up in action for The Bahamas, swimming in the girls 100m backstroke. She was in heat three. The 17-year-old won her heat in 1:08.67 but it was not enough to qualify for the semis in that event. Moss posted splits of 32.63 and 36.04 seconds. She placed 31st out of 52 swimmers.
Japan’s Aimi Nagaoka’s time of 1:01.74 was the fastest qualifying time for the semis.
The final event of the morning session that The Bahamas competed in was the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Competing in that race for The Bahamas was Thompson, Gadson, Nigel Forbes and Marvin Johnson. They swam in heat three which was the fastest heat with five qualifiers. Unfortunately, the Bahamian quartet was not one of the five qualifiers as they finished sixth in their heat when they clocked 3:41.57. Overall, they had the 18th fastest time. Johnson started the race and Gadson anchored it. Forbes had the fastest split of 52.87 seconds.
Romania had the fastest qualifying time of 3:19.28.
Thompson and Forbes will start things off for The Bahamas today when they swim the boys 200m individual medley (IM). Forbes will swim in heat four lane four while Thompson is in lane seven in the third heat.
The girls 100m free will also feature two Bahamians as Gibbs and Moss experience action. Gibbs will see action first as she swims in heat five lane two. Moss is in the sixth heat and will swim in lane three.
Moss will have little time to recover after that as she returns to the pool to swim in the 100m fly. She will swim that race out of lane one in the second heat.
Thompson will return to his second individual race for the morning when he and Johnson swim in the 200m free. Thompson will be featured in lane four in the second heat while Johnson will be in lane five in heat four.
The lineup is not known as yet but The Bahamas will swim in the 4×100 mixed medley relay. That quartet, which will include Moss and Gibbs, will swim out of lane three in heat two.