FINA World Short Course Championships Day 2
The 16th annual Short Course World Swimming Championships continues in Doha, Qatar, and the Bermudian Delegation is being led by two-time Olympian Roy-Allan Burch and Julian Fletcher at the Senior level and Richard Goodwin is attending as coach.
Coach Goodwin said, “On the second day of competition here in Doha, Qatar at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships; it was time for Roy-Allan Burch to show his ability in the 50 meter freestyle.
“In an event that demands technical perfection, with no margin for error; Burch got it all exactly right. Blasting off the blocks at the start, he had a career-best reaction time of 0.58 seconds. Breaking out under power, he put his feet on the wall at the end of the first lap in 0:10.27 seconds.
“Powering home on the second lap in 0:11.54 seconds, he won his heat in a new Bermuda Record time of 0:21.81. This shaved 4/10th’s of a second off his previous record of 0:22.24, set earlier this year in Bermuda.
“By winning the 14th heat out of a total of 18, this saw him place 23rd overall from a field of 173 active participants. It was impressive and satisfying for him to beat many of the competitors that he recently faced in Veracruz Mexico including bronze medallist from CAC Hanser Garcia and silver medallist Renzo Tjon.
“I could see that he was ready in his warmup, he looked relaxed and confident. When we went to practice his start, it was electric and he was very fast over the first 15 meters in a timed breakout. I gave him his time and asked him did he want to do another, he just smiled and said “no, that’s as fast as I have been in a while, so I know I am ready”. Clearly, he was.
“Roy was ecstatic to swim so quickly and go under the 22 second barrier for the first time. He was also quick to review his race and knows that with a few more tweaks and even more intensive training, he can go even faster. He indicated that he already plans to return to Bermuda next year where he will once again have the opportunity to swim in a short course meter event, on home soil and in front of a local crowd.
“He returns to the competition pool tomorrow to swim the 50 meter butterfly, while Julian Fletcher will contest the 200 meter breaststroke event.”
