Richmond swimmer sets Canadian record
It was a big day for little Noemie Thomas at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Istanbul Thursday.
The five-foot-four 16-year-old from Richmond set a new Canadian record of 25.76 in the 50-metre butterfly heats, then matched that time in the semifinals to advance to Friday’s final.
“To repeat that exactly is pretty good. Maybe I would have liked to go a little bit better,” Thomas told SendtoNews/Swimming Canada. “I felt like my start, I was one stroke over what I usually do in the first 25 (metres) of my race. If I just lengthen out my strokes in the first 25, then I think I can get down to (a faster time).”
The world short-course championships are the first senior international meet for Thomas, who bested Victoria Poon’s three-year-old Canadian record of 25.87. That was good for the top overall time in the heats. She followed up with the fourth-best time in the semifinals and will have a chance at a medal for Canada at 9:43 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday.
“I’m pretty excited about the finals. The goal coming in was just to have fun and see where I was at in my training,” Thomas said. “I’ve been to the junior worlds and everything and it’s similar but in its own ways (world short course) is different. Especially the (amount of) people here and the atmosphere was pretty nice. It was cool to walk through those doors.”
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