Olympian Britany van Lange On Sunday wrapped up her performance at the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain with a personal best time in the Women’s 50m freestyle event.
The 16-year-old Bishops’ High School student, one of Guyana’s most outstanding female swimmers, recorded 28.46 seconds in placing second swimming in lane 4 of heat 3.
Ghana’s Ophelia Swayne defeated the Dorado Swim Speed Swim Club athlete clocking 28.10 seconds while Elizabeth Passon finished third in 28.46 seconds.
Despite the fact that Guyana’s swimmers were unable to advance to the next round of the championship in their respective events, they were all competent in achieving personal best times, which would have been one of their main goals at the FINA games.
Earlando McRae competed at his first International competition this year after returning from a years-long hiatus two months ago and recorded a personal best performance in the men’s 50m breaststroke event.
McRae, one of the better local swimmers, clocked 32.24 seconds to erase his entry time of 33.38 seconds (the third fastest time in his heats). The new time was recorded in lane 3 of heat 2.
Two-time Olympian, Niall Roberts also earned himself a new time in the men’s 50m butterfly preliminaries when he matched up against other world class athletes. Roberts, aged 22, registered 26.39 seconds from lane 3 of heat 3 and is ranked 59.
Van Lange, the youngest athlete on the team, also achieved a personal best time in her final event following a disappointing performance in the women’s 100m freestyle race last Thursday.
The swimmers were accompanied by Coach Stephanie Fraser and Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Secretary, Omodelle George, who represented GASA at the FINA Congress during the Championship.
