Day three was a relatively quiet day in the pool for the Pacific island swimmers, with just three swimmers competing
Nonetheless, it was no less challenging.
Swimmers from Fiji, FSM and Northern Marianas were the latest to take the plunge and once again those supporting the region’s swimmers were not disappointed as another personal best was achieved within five minutes of the morning’s heats commencing.
Two of those three swimmers appeared in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke. First up was Kaito Yanai representing Northern Marianas in Heat 3.
The teenager swims out of the Tsunami Swimming Center in Saipan and comes from a swimming family that includes his younger brother Ryuto.
His family will certainly be proud of him as he came home in 31.46 seconds, his second personal best of the championships following his performance in the 100m Breaststroke. He stopped to analyse his race afterwards;
“ That was tough. The plan was to go from easy to fast but then I went a bit too fast for the first part and I wasn’t thinking.”
His assessment of his fast start was accurate and also provides another interesting addition to this young swimmer’s story. His reaction time off the blocks was 0.62 seconds exactly the same as in his 100m Breaststroke on day one. On that occasion, only the World Record Holder got away quicker. This time Kaito went one better and his reaction time was quicker than World Record Holder Cameron Van Der Burgh of South Africa. This, in a Preliminary where Van Der Burgh broke his own World Record!
All this, and it’s only Kaito’s first World Championships.