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NEWS & EVENTS
Poor start sinks Nikles
Saturday, August 3, 2013

Brunei swimmer Christian Nikles
in action during an earlier
swimming competition. Nikles
failed to set a new personal
best in the men's 50-metre
freestyle at the World
Championships in Barcelona
after struggling with a poor
start yesterday. Picture: BT
file

A bad start for Christian Nikles saw him fall short of the target yesterday.

The 15-year-old didn't manage to better his best in the men's 50-metre freestyle after he clocked a time of 25.52 seconds at the World Championships in Barcelona.

His national open and age group record of 25.09s from the 5th ASEAN School Games in Vietnam in June continues to stand.

His time placed him fourth out of 10 swimmers in Heat 4 and 71st out of a field of 107 competitors at Palau Sant Jordi.

Florent Manaudou of France was the fastest with a time of 21.72s after he pipped Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho by 0.04s in Heat 11.

National aquatics coach Eric Landa was disappointed with the result since there was no new personal record.

"He had a great last 20 metres but his start was not good. Unfortunately when you have a bad start for a 50-metre you have no time to correct," said Landa yesterday.

"It is a bit frustrating for him (Nikles). We are not lucky at this competition," he added.

Nikles had equaled his national open and age group record in the 100m freestyle after he finished with a time of 55.55s on Wednesday.

The national swim team will be hoping they close out the competition with a bang.

Tiara Shahril Anwar will complete Brunei's campaign in Spain today by taking to the pool for the women's 50m freestyle.

She was impressive for her debut in the 100m freestyle after winning her heat with a time of 1:02.88 on Thursday.

However, she was off the pace for the national open record of 1:02.54 set by Amanda Liew back in June 2010.

Muhammad Isa Ahmad opened Brunei's account at the competition on Sunday after finishing the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:09.96.

His time of 31.29s at the turn is the new national open and age group record for the 50m breastroke.

He failed to reproduce the same kind of performance after finishing the 50m breaststroke with a time of 31.68s on Tuesday.

Elder sister, Nur Hamizah had competed in the 100m backstroke on Monday and was a stroke shy of a new record as she clocked a time of 1:13.25.

The team will return to the Sultanate on Monday.

Courtesy from Brunei Times