Bruneian swimmer Christian
Nikles equalled his best
time of 55.55 seconds in
the men's 100-metre
freestyle at World
Championships in Barcelona
yesterday. The 15-year-old
placed third out of 10 in
Heat 2 and 72 overall out
of 90 swimmers. Picture:
BT file
It couldn't get any closer than this for Christian Nikles.
The national swimmer missed out on a new national open and age group record in the men's 100-metre freestyle event after he finished with a time of 55.55 seconds at the World Championships in Barcelona yesterday.
The time at the Palau Sant Jordi equals his own record from September last year.
The 15-year-old placed third out of 10 in Heat 2 and 72 overall out of 90 swimmers.
James Magnussen of Australia was the fastest and was the only one to swim under 48s with a time of 47.71s
National aquatics coach Eric Landa was happy with the performance but disappointed that there was no new time set.
"Christian did quite well. He's been working on some changes in his race plan that should lead to a faster time," said Landa.
"We were hoping he could do that here but unfortunately it didn't happen... yet," he said.
"Swimming a good race is nice but you want to go faster since time is the ultimate judgement of a successful race," continued the Dutchman.
Nikles will hit the pool again for the 50m freestyle tomorrow.
Nur Hamizah Ahmad also failed to set a new record in the women's 50m backstroke after she finished with a time of 33.85s.
She still holds onto her old national open and age group record of 32.95s from June.
The 17-year-old placed eighth out of 10 in Heat 2 and 48 out of the field of 53 swimmers.
Fu Yuanhui of China was the fastest with a time of 27.55s.
"Both swimmers have tried their very best. Hamizah unfortunately really didn't deliver a fast time as much as swimmer and coach would have wanted," said Landa.
"The last 20 metres was just too slow for a new record to happen. It is back to training when we get back to get that right to make sure the next race is a perfect one," he said.
Tiara Shahril Anwar will make her debut today in the women's 100m freestyle.
She will close out Brunei's campaign at the World Championships with the 50m freestyle event on Saturday.
Muhammad Isa Ahmad opened Brunei's account at the competition on Sunday after finishing the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:09.96.
His time of 31.29s at the turn is the new national open and age group record for the 50m breastroke.
He failed to reproduce the same kind of performance after finishing the 50m breaststroke with a time of 31.68s on Tuesday.
Elder sister, Nur Hamizah had competed in the 100m backstroke on Monday and was a stroke shy of a new record as she clocked a time of 1:13.25.
