Brunei's Tiara Shahril Anwar (L)
takes a picture with triple
Olympic champion Ranomi
Kromowidjojo from the
Netherlands at the World
Championships in Barcelona.
Tiara set a new personal best
in the 50m freestyle yesterday.
Picture: Courtesy of Eric Landa
Brunei's World Championships in Barcelona ended with Tiara Shahril Anwar setting a new personal best in the women's 50m freestyle yesterday, her second in as many races.
She clocked 28.74s in her heat to better her previous best of 29.24s, though the national record still stands at 28.23s which Amanda Liew recorded at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Tiara also set a new personal best in the women's 100m freestyle on Thursday, when she was just 0.34 seconds shy of ther national record after clocking 1.02.88.
Liew still holds the record in the event after clocking 1.02.54 in 2010.
Overall, Tiara ranked 61st in the field of 83 swimmers in the women's 50m freestyle yesterday with Australia's Cate Campbell the fastest at 24.27s.
"Tiara swam a very solid race but was a bit slow on the dive, caused by the usual nerves that tournaments like this bring," said national aquatics head coach Eric Landa.
"She did well in this race and in her 100m freestyle on Thursday, both new personal best times and getting closer to the national open records which would definitely be the next goal for her in the nearby future.
"I'm quite satisfied with her performance here and so is she.
"She experienced her first big international tournament and walked away with two new personal best times, so she should be happy with that," added the veteran Dutch coach.
Brunei's interest in the competition started last Sunday when Muhammad Isa Ahmad set a new national and age group record in the men's 50m breaststroke when his time at the turn at the 100m breaststroke was 31.29s breaking the national and age group record of 31.58s which he set in April.
Christian Nikles also equaled his own national open and age group record when he swam 55.55s during the men's 100m freestyle on Wednesday.
The duo were milliseconds off breaking the national records which were also their best times in their remaining two races.
Muhammad Isa would swim 31.68s in the 50m breaststroke on Tuesday and Nikles' 25.52s on Friday was 0.43 seconds short of his national open and age group record of 25.09s which he set at June's 5th ASEAN School Games in Vietnam.
Muhammad Isa's older sister Nur Hamizah was the other Bruneian at the meet and was just as close to breaking national records as her teammates.
Despite mistiming her finish, she clocked 1.13.25 in the women's 100m backstroke on Monday, just 0.65 seconds off the national record she set in June (1.12.60).
Nur Hamizah would go on to record 33.85s in the women's 50m backstroke on Wednesday, with her old record of 32.95s from June still the number to beat.
The team will be returning to Brunei tomorrow morning.
