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Nikles’ wait to better national record continues
Sunday, December 11, 2016

BRUNEI Darussalam’s national swimmer Christian Nikles’s search to break his own national record goes on after his time of 25.88s in the men’s 50m butterfly was not enough in the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Windsor, Canada on Friday.

The elite swimmer’s own national record still stands at 25.80s which he set during the ASA Southwest Regionals UK in November 2015.

Nikles finished joint fourth in the heats with Gibraltar’s Jim Sanderson after the pair posted equal times.

The Millfield School-educated swimmer was ranked 69th overall, a distant 03.35 behind the heats winner Brazil’s Nicholas Santos who recorded 22.53s.

In a similar fate as freestyle specialist South Africa’s Douglas Erasmus, Santos could not replicate his explosive form in the semi-finals after falling short by 0.06 behind the slowest qualifier.

World-class swimmer Chad Le Clos will be gunning for his third gold medal in the championship with USA’s Tom Shields- the fastest qualifier in the semi-finals- emerging as his biggest rival.

The South African has earlier accomplished a world record in the 100m butterfly with a time of 48.08s in the same competition.

Nikles will be provided with another opportunity to break a national record in the 100m freestyle event.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Isa bin Ahmad, fresh from achieving a national record in the 50m split and 100m breaststroke will be hoping to break the national record in the 50m breaststroke.

Courtesy from Borneo Bulletin