Ocean Campus makes his debut performance at the 22nd World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Singapore. At only 16 years old he is the youngest swimmer to represent Guam at this international stage.
Ocean was in the outside lane for his first swim of the competition, the Men’s 200m Freestyle. The youngest in his heat he made an impressive entry into the long course pool with a reaction time of 0.66. Taking home a personal best time of 2:05.98, a massive improvement on his previous time of 2:11.58 registered at Keo Nakama Invitational 2024, Honolulu. Ocean shared his experience of competing at this world class level of competition. “feels amazing, I’m happy to get to represent my island and I’m here to do my best”. He goes on to describe the massive competition venue “it’s crazy, it’s so loud I’ve never been in a facility where it’s so loud, when I walk out it was nerve-wracking for sure”.
Ocean, who swims for Tsunami club on Guam also reflected on this long course pool being a novel experience in itself, this is not the length of pool Ocean is used to “we don’t have a 50 meter pool. So seeing a long course pool is really rare for us”. He leaves this intense race with a dedicated attitude for improvement he’ll take back to his club, describing the race itself, he says “it was really fast, everyone in my Heat was really fast. I think I could have done a little better. I think I went too fast in the first 100, but it’s just something to improve on”.
Despite his young age, limited experience in a 50m pool and first time at such a huge competition, Ocean dived into this race with cool composure and took home an impressive personal best. With three clear areas of focus in his preparation,
“Eat good, sleep well, get good warm-ups”.
Ocean returns to the pool on day four for the 200m Individual Medley, ready to continue enjoying his first taste of international competition.
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Written by The Reporters’ Academy