Swimmers Aleka Persaud and Raekwon Noel closed their 2023 Pan American Games campaign with two commendable performances in the pool on Tuesday morning.
In the Women’s 50M freestyle, Persaud again came close to resetting the National Record when she clocked 27.81s for 7th place in the Heat. The race was won by Chile’s Ines Marin in 26.57s.
“Yes, I’m happy with all my times for the events, especially my 100fly. Knowing that I’ve changed my environment, I wasn’t expecting much. I’m very satisfied with the outcome,” the 17-year-old shared as she highlighted her National Record-resetting feat during the Games.
Aleka Persaud
Quizzed about the work she has put into the achievement, Persaud divulged, “I’ve raised my mileage a lot. I’ve started doing different land training, including plyometrics, and my nutrition has changed. Yeah, and all those factors played a big part in the level of my training right now.”
Raekwon Noel took to the pool for the Men’s 400m medley on Tuesday morning, and clocked 4 minutes, 42.83s. He summed up his 2023 Pan Am Games outing by saying, “My performance wasn’t bad this entire meet. I came in — as you said — unprepared, but it was great, especially in my last race; especially how I executed and everything. So, I’m really proud of that. Coming that close to a best time without any preparation or anything is really good, and pretty awesome for my standards.
Raekwon Noel
“Just tells me to work harder. It’s just the beginning of the season, this is the first meet of the season, so I’m really confident in where I can go in the next couple months.
“You know, we’re now starting everything. I just started up. I just came back from vacation couple weeks ago. So, I just wanted to make sure that I can execute my races perfectly, and be confident in what I can do in the pool and against the athletes, because these are some of the best athletes in the world,” the teenage swimmer added.
Pan American Games action involving Guyanese athletes will continue later this week, as athletics and table tennis competitions swing into action.
