National aquatics head
coach Eric Landa
speaking to his
swimmers during a
training session at
the World Championships
in Barcelona. Brunei's
Tiara Eleina Shahril
Anwar was just 0.34
seconds off the national
record in the women's
100m freestyle
yesterday. Picture:
Courtesy of Eric Landa
National swimmer, Tiara Eleina Shahril Anwar was just milliseconds away from breaking the national record in the women's 100m freestyle yesterday.
Tiara completed the event with a time of 1.02.88 in her heat at the World Championships in Barcelona.
She was just 0.34 seconds off Amanda Liew's time of 1.02.54 that was set on June 21, 2010.
The 16-year-old finished her heat in first place ahead of her two opponents, though her time didn't see her qualify for the next round after placing 62nd out of 73 swimmers.
Following behind her in second place was Bahrain's Sameera Albitar who clocked in at 1.05.32 and Guyana's Britany Candacia Van Lange with a time of 1.05.56.
National aquatics head coach Eric Landa told The Brunei Times that he was pleased with Tiara's performance.
"She did extremely well and swam a time of 1.02.88, bettering her personal best time of 1.04.85 by almost two seconds," said Landa.
"The national record still stands with Liew, but the time is getting closer," he said.
"The race was executed exactly according to the race plan that we practiced in Singapore in the two and a half weeks leading up to this Championships.
"Although (it was her World Championships debut), she did very well and kept her calm and stuck to the race plan perfectly," said the coach.
"She was anything but calm about 30 minutes before the race, she was very excited to finally race. She has been waiting since July 24 to swim her event as both her 100 and 50m freestyle events are at the end on the tournament.
"It was extra exciting that Tiara won her heat, which meant she got about a two-minute television exposure (before, during and after her race) for Brunei," he said.
"It helped give good promotion of the country and it shows others that Brunei is here," he added.
Christian Nikles will finish his Barcelona campaign with the 50m freestyle event today.
Tiara will swim the 50m freestyle on Saturday before the team returns on Monday.
