Day 2 in the pool at the XII Pacific Mini Games saw nine gold medals up for grabs. Presenting, amongst others, chances for the Butterfly swimmers and long-distance swimmers at 800m to make a mark. In addition, it was also the opportunity for teams to enjoy racing together in the 4x 50m Mixed Relay, which is always fast-moving fun for those watching.
Fiji finished the day with another 6 medals, including two golds. Whilst, Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and the Cook Islands all gained three medals.
All this, on a day where the watching crowd around the pool made a noticeable difference to all the swimmers as they gave it their all.
Cook Islands Go From Strength to Strength
The Cook Islands built on a successful first day of the Championships, where no fewer than 7 new PBs were set, with solid performances on day two in front of a jubilant travelling support of teammates and coaches. Encouraged on by the beating drum brought poolside, Jacob Story and Mia Laban rose to the occasion continuing their medal-filled start with 3 more accolades between them. Jacob Story was one to watch out for according to his coach Horst Miehe,
‘Jacob would be the one that we’ve got the highest hopes for’ he said in the lead up to the Meet.
The 18 year old showed no signs of feeling the pressure from that recognition. He is an experienced swimmer despite his young age with previous World Swimming Championships already under his belt including Budapest last December. His performance in the gruelling Mens’ 400m Individual Medley was testament to that experience. He led for the entire race until the final turn where he was pipped in the final 20 metres to take silver despite giving it everything with a time of 4:27.01. His 4th medal of the Championships so far came in the 50m Breaststroke with a 29.09 to claim bronze.
Alicia Story nearly followed in the 400m Freestyle qualifying for the evening’s finals 3rd fastest. In the final the16 year old swam well to finish 5th.
Mia Laban added a bronze to her tally in the 100m Butterfly finishing in 1:03.51. Not only was she delighted with her time, but also attests to the support from friends and family back home and poolside as the reasons for her success.
“Really happy. I swam three seconds quicker from this morning’s heats which is pretty surprising, so I’m really happy with that. Today my country brought the drums… thank you for being there for me, especially my mum. I wouldn’t be here without her because she did all the fundraising for me.”
Soon it will be time to look beyond the Mini Games in Palau, with the exciting prospect of being entrusted as the next hosts of the Mini Games in 2029, the Cook Islands will be encouraged by their plethora of exciting talent and will be confident they can put on a show in their new pool on home soil.
Tasi shines for the Federated States of Micronesia
Tasi Limitiaco made the 50m Breaststroke Final. The Coronado Swim Team member based in California recorded 29.85 seconds and became FSMs second finalist in the pool at these Games. Born on the small atoll of Polowat and raised in Guam, Tasi already holds the National record in the 100m version of the stroke.
Katerson Moya was back in the pool and clocked up his second individual National Record in as many days in the 100m Men’s Butterfly heats with a time of 59.54 seconds.
The team then combined to post 1-59.68, another National Record for the FSM team in the 4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay.
Earlier, Kestra and Kaylinn Kihleng competed together in the 50m Breaststroke event, maintaining a long family tradition of swimmers from the family.
A Fiji gold rush
It was a one-two in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke Final for Fiji. Having claimed the fastest three qualifying times in the morning’s heats, Samuel Yalimaiwai and David Young led the six finalists home in times of 27.74 seconds and 28.63 respectively.
We caught up with Samuel straight after his race and he was quite rightly delighted,
‘I’m glad to win the gold medal, especially with the time. I was aiming for 27, and I’m glad I managed to pull that off. All the hard work has paid off, so I’m happy with it. I’m happy to get a gold for the team. The crowd was amazing, a lot of supporters came out here in numbers and I think they really pushed us to perform really well tonight. You can hear them throughout the whole race.’
Speaking before the Games, coach Cheyenne Rova remarked how excited she was with the ‘mix’ of the team. With first time performers through to seasoned Olympians competing. Sure enough it wasn’t long before the Fijian flag was being raised not only by Samuel but also Kelera Mudunasoko in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke.
The new gold medallist and the first ever in this discipline at a Mini Games shed light on how she felt;
‘I was really nervous but then I just had to calm myself down, just visualise what I had to do. I’m very happy about it. All the training and sacrifices I’ve made have paid off. I’m really grateful. It’s really a pleasure.’
18 year old Vivita Bai reached her third final in two days finishing 5th in the 100m Women’s Butterfly in 1-06-06, just over 2 seconds away from a medal. Her male counterpart in the same discipline, Hansel McCaig snatched a bronze medal in 54.95 to add to his bronze and silver medals already won. The 21 year old will be hoping to get that elusive gold on Day 3 in the 50m Butterfly event.
Marseleima Moss was yet another swimmer to make the podium for Team Fiji. This time in the 800m Freestyle, clocking 9-43.53 for a well earned silver. Taking Fiji swim team’s haul to 9 medals in two days.
Marseleima was yet another athlete who highlighted the difference the spectators make at these Games,
‘I think you have to be here in person to really understand, because there’s just so many countries that are cheering for you. Even if they’re not in Team Fiji. So it’s just really amazing and really fun to be around. To everyone cheering at home I just want to say thank you so much. You guys are so supportive and we all couldn’t be here without you.’
Shout out also to 16 year old Jeremiah Rova who qualified for his first final at these Games in the 400m Individual Medley, completing the 16 lengths in 5-20.46. All completed in front of his sister and National Coach at these Games, Cheyenne Rova.
To round off things, the team came together for the 4x50m Mixed Medley Relay in the form of Theola Kwong, Jonalese Vatubua, Samuel Yalimaiwai and David Young. A time of 1-49.68 saw them separate Tahiti and Samoa to take silver.
Guam within touching distance of medals
Mia Lee continued to show why she is regarded as one of the Pacific islands emerging talents qualifying for her second final in as many days, a remarkable feat for the 16-year-old in her Pacific Mini Games debut. Mia’s 1:05:68 in the 100m Butterfly had her finish in 4th, putting her within tantalising touching distance of a medal finish yet again. She will take much encouragement from this as she looks to go one better next time. Amaya Bollinger also qualified for the final of the 100m Butterfly 3rd fastest in the heats.
Israel Poppe today also got his first taste of an evening under the lights qualifying out of the heats in the 100m Butterfly. His recorded 57:15 in the final.
There are encouraging signs aplenty for team Guam as they seek out a first medal of the Championships in Palau.
Marshall Islands
Today marks the end of Marshall Islands’ time at the Mini Games for their two swimming representatives, Jacob Hutchinson (16) and Jaya Corder (17). Jacob participated in the 100m Individual Medley heats yesterday, finishing with a time of 1:25.85, as well as competing in today’s 50m Breastroke with a time of 42.72. Jacob’s teammate Jaya also competed in the 100m Individual Medley with a time of 1:17.35.
Jaya continues to gain experience competing on a big scale after his debut at his first World Championship Short course swimming event at Budapest last year. He attended the championship as a sole representative only 6 months ago, where he first displayed his determination and spirit.
We look forward to seeing more from the two young swimmers in the future and watching their development.
NORTHERN MARIANAS, 3 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Northern Marianas meant business today, setting three National Records and bringing home three medals. Isaiah Roger Aleksenko’s performance yesterday has proven to be more than just luck, as he took another Gold medal in today’s 100m Butterfly with a rapid 52:27 seconds. Isaiah spoke of how amazing and motivating Palau and its crowd has been. Isaiah has now gained three gold medals, and explains that, “It feels good to make his people proud.” He’s certainly one to keep an eye out for, and can be found racing in Wednesday’s 50m Butterfly and 4x200m Freestyle Relay Heats.
Taking her second medal of the games is Maria Corazon Ayson Batallones, bagging a silver and a National Record in the 50m Breastroke. Maria was very proud of her result,
“My time is really good, I cut from my prelims time so I’m really happy about that.”
Maria had razor like focus throughout her race she explained,
“All that I kept repeating in my head was ‘BLAST IT’, because it’s 50, so I really wasn’t thinking and I just let my body do the work.”.
In the Men’s 800m Freestyle Kean James Sy Pajarillaga brought home a bronze medal. Kean was “satisfied that he went under 9 minutes”, and rightly so, achieving a National Record with a 8:59.35 finish.
Isaiah Roger Aleksenko, Maria Corazon Ayson Batallones, Kean James Sy Pajarillaga and Frances Rodelia Raho made the 4×50 Medley Mixed Relay. Although the team just missed bronze, their strong performance was still impactful, achieving a National Record with their 1:50.42 finish.
National Records lowered by Palau
These Games are a proud moment for Palau, not only are they hosting them for the first time in 20 years but they’re hosting aquatics for the first time ever at a Pacific Mini Games. No fewer than eight Palauan swimmers were in action on Day 2.
The heats produced two National Records in the morning. These were in the Men’s 100m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke events. Charlie Gibbons almost broke the one minute barrier in posting 1-00.69 for the Butterfly. Earlier, hometown swimmer Jion Hosei who has been swimming for 10 years clocked 30.93 to set a new national mark for the Men’s 50m Breaststroke.
More was to come during finals’ evening in the long-distance event of 800m Freestyle. Yuri Hosei, sister of Jion, took a personal best time home to share with her brother, a time of 10-40.54 in the Women’s event. Shortly afterwards, both Travis Sakurai, Erungel Williams and Travis Sakurai broke personal bests in the Men’s longer distance event. Erungel just missed out on a bronze medal for the proud host nation.
Papua New Guinea benefitting from their preparation
On day two we caught up with two Papua New Guinean swimmers to see how they were getting on at the Pacific Mini Games. Josh Traere who is currently enrolled in The World Aquatic Scholarship at Bond University on the Gold Coast in Australia, spoke of how this Scholarship has been aiding his development.
‘Some days we just focus on technique, other days we focus on endurance and speed. They give the opportunity to the top athletes in PNG swimming. So I’m privileged to get this scholarship, it’s an honour and a blessing to me and my family.” The 25 year old said.’
What about the reception he has received from the host nation of Palau?
“I love Palau. People are very nice and kind here. So yeah, I love it.”
He races in his speciality events, 50/100m Freestyle on Thursday and Friday.
Roxanne Kirarock was delighted with her new personal best yesterday in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay, beating her previous best by a second. Today, Roxanne, who is only 14 years of age and has been swimming since she was 3, competed in the 800m Freestyle finishing in 11:42.90. We spoke to her after her race, intrigued about her personal inspiration,
“I would say my current teammates because they’re all older than me and they have more experience so look towards them for advice. I’m really thankful for all of my coaches and my friends and family because they’re the main reason that I’ve got this far in swimming and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Papua New Guinea capped off the day by qualifying for the 4 x 50m Mixed Medley final where they finished 6th with their time 1:59.89.
More medals for Samoa.
It’s day two of the Pacific Mini Games and for Samoa it’s the second day of winning medals. Paige Schendelaar-Kemp followed her bronze yesterday with a gold today with an impressive 1:01:16 in the 100m Butterfly. Paige keeps her tactics simple with the approach of, “Head down, bum up, leave it in the pool” focussing on her own performance rather than anyone else’s. She will be one to watch in her upcoming races.
Salani Sa’Aga made it a hat trick with her third bronze medal of the Games in the 400m Individual Medley. Despite recovering from illness and not being very experienced in the 400m; when her coach told her there was a spot in the race she decided to just “give it a go”. Give it a go she did with a commendable finish of 5:23.39.
Salani and Paige brought their medal winning energy into the 4x50m Mixed Medley Relay. They secured bronze with teammates Johann Stickland and Hector Junior Langkilde with a finish time of 1:49.92. They were all happy with their display of teamwork, as Johann explains,
“Working as a team with this group is real special… I wouldn’t want to race with anyone else”.
Johann also made his fourth final in the 50m Breaststroke coming in with 29.65 seconds. Meanwhile, Hector made his third final in the 100m Butterfly in 56:85 seconds.
Tonga – Another day, another record.
We kicked off day 2 with another strong performance from Team Tonga, once again securing five Personal Bests and a National Record for the second day running. In the Men’s 100m Butterfly, the day opened with an impressive swim from the youngest male swimmer Alexander Villami, who clocked a Personal Best of 1:07.37 in the 100m Butterfly – a great confidence boost for the rising swimmer.
Finau Ohuafi followed with a blazing heat swim that earned him third place in his heat and a new national record of 56.41 seconds. His morning swim booked him a place in the final, where he came back even faster, finishing 4th overall and resetting his National Record with a time of 56.16 seconds. A double-record day for Finau and a major milestone for Tongan swimming!
In the women’s 100m Butterfly, Tonga’s youngest swimmer in the event Luseane Latai Limoni swam a new PB of 1:20.19. Although Luseane said she was “nervous for the race”, she secured Personal Bests in all her races, showing great promise for the future. Another PB came from Carolann Faeamani, who delivered a smooth performance with a personal best time of 36.37 seconds.
Vaoahi Afu, one of Tonga’s national Breaststroke record holders coming into the Games, swam a strong heat to qualify for the final in the 50m Breaststroke. Ranking 4th with a time of 35:33 seconds, Vaoahi continued with that momentum improving on her morning swim in the final, resetting her PB at 35.18 seconds.
Vanuatu on the right pathway
It was another day of National Records and personal bests for Vanuatu. Their entries over 3 events produced National Records. Vanuatu are focussed on a clear pathway of experience for their swimmers. The stepping stones hopefully ending with a team at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, via the Oceania Championships.
Loane Russet is benefitting from training in Australia and this showed when she set a new National Record in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke in 37.86 seconds.
Not to be outdone Leo Lebot claimed his 4th National Record in two days by posting 35.14 in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke. Based in Brisbane and coached by Vanuatu National Coach Lachlan Milner, he lowered his previous best, recorded only in May, by 0.7 seconds.
Lou Anne Delrieu, Elven Todman, Leo Lebot and Loane Russet are also now the proud owners of a National Record as part of the 4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay team. Their time being 2-10.18.
To crown a very good morning in the pool it was great to see the development of this team with no fewer than 7 personal best times with Pamela Mesa and Robsen Dick, also beating their personal clock.
New Caledonia add more medals
There were another 3 medals gained in the pool for New Caledonia. Today’s colours being, one silver and two bronze. Clara Delunel now has a full set of medals all to herself after picking up silver in the 400m Individual Medley in 5-21.90.
Two more bronze medals followed for Manon Baldovini and Carmel Jarcet in the 50m Breaststroke and 800m Freestyle respectively. This adds to Manon’s two golds from Day 1 and Carmel’s gold and bronze from Day 1.
Carmel told us her thoughts post race,
‘I did the 800 this morning with a slow heat in the timed race so I didn’t know how it was going because I was the only one; so I did my best. My time tonight was ok, I could have done better. The crowd were great, it was really nice of them and makes me really proud to represent my country.’
Tahiti continue to light up the Games
Deotille Videau continued to light up the Pacific Mini Games for Tahiti with a further 3 medals on day two, doubling her tally to 6 so far. She breezed through the competition in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley posting 5:08.41, a cool 13.49 seconds ahead of the silver position. She claimed silver herself in the 100m Butterfly and bronze in the 50m Breaststroke. It was a proud day for not only Deotille, but her older brother Sosthene who also took bronze in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley. Fellow Tahitian Nael Roux was the gold medallist in that event, he timed this technical and endurance focused discipline to perfection, breaking down the race afterwards, here is what he said,
“I started slowly, Butterfly. I tried to keep the rhythm in the water because Butterfly isn’t my best. Then the Breaststroke, I couldn’t let (Jacob Story) get too far away because I know he is really strong, so I had to put in a lot of rhythm. Then in Freestyle, since I’m a freestyler, I finish well.”
Finish well he did, pouncing after the last turn to power past Jacob Story, finishing with a new PB 4:25.15. Only Nael’s fellow countryman Enoa Vial, prevented him from adding a second gold of the day, settling for silver in the Mens 800m Freestyle. Enoa’s time of 8:22.80,too powerful for anyone to get close, bringing home gold. Lili Paillisse comfortably took gold in the Women’s 800m Freestyle final and Nicolas Vermorelle claimed silver in the Mens 100m Butterfly before Tahiti finished off another successful day under the floodlights with gold in the mixed 4 x 40m Medley Relay.
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Words & interviews: The Reporters’ Academy. Photos: Ryota Nishida