On day one of the FINA World Championships the males in the Guyana swimming team took part in their first race at the event.
According to information received from Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) President Karen Pilgrim, Henk Lowe swam in the 400m Freestyle, in Heat 1 of 10 heats, entering with a seed time of 5:02.63 and finishing in 4:52.56. He was the third of four swimmers in the heat.
Guyana team coach Nicholas Fraser said, “Henk used his Blueseventy swimsuit and he felt good with it.
“ I thought he fell off his rhythm at around the 150-200m where he probably lost focus a bit … he allowed the winner to get too far in front and he didn’t speed up on the last lap. He said he felt pretty comfortable in the pool and the suit held up. I also think that the time is good.”
Niall Roberts and Fabian Binns swam the 50m butterfly in Heat 2 and 10 respectively with Binns placing second among 10 competitors in his heat with a time of 27:77
Roberts started with an entry time of 25.96, but was not able to better it finishing with 26.20. He was third of ten swimmers in his heat.
“Fabian went in the 50m fly and seemed a bit slow off the blocks and through the breakout, but he made up for it with a good rhythm through the race. Niall also went out a bit slow, though he seemed good through his pullout, he fell off his rhythm early doing 14.10 sec in the first 25, he did an excellent back half and finished 26.20.”
The second day of the championships saw Henk Lowe, the only Guyanese in the water, swim the 200m freestyle, entering with a seed time of 2:17.13 which placed him 8th of 9 swimmers in the heat.
By the time the ripples settled, he emerged 5th with a time of 2:11.56.
Fraser was pleased with Lowe’s performance and noted that improvements will continue once he swims this event at this level of competition and gets better at pacing himself.
Tomorrow Binns and Roberts will swim the 100m Freestyle while Noelle Smith takes to the pool on Thursday.
