Nathaniel Noka from Papua New Guinea was racing in Heat 4 of the 50m Men’s Butterfly on Day 1 of the swimming at the World Aquatic Championships. He lined up alongside his fellow Pacific islander Katerson Moya from the Federated States of Micronesia.
There was a hint of what was to come as he was the quickest off the blocks in 0.59 seconds to lead the one length dash. Nathaniel finished 4th but it was the clock that told the real story.
A personal best time in this discipline of 26.06. Lowering his previous personal best by over half a second achieved earlier this year. Nathaniel had a broad smile as he almost poetically gave his initial thoughts after emerging from the pool.
‘I felt really light. I just do my best. My personal best.’
He stressed the importance of his coach’s final words of ‘just focusing on my stroke.’
An experienced swimmer, the 24 year old explained how these moments remind him of why he enjoys swimming so much and why he got into aquatics.
‘I really enjoy that it is an individual sport and that’s why I keep going and want to continue as long as I can.’
Nathaniel is targeting more success through his performances this week as he underlined that he wants ‘to focus on my strokes and that’s all.’
We won’t have to wait long to see the outcome of that focus as he swims again on Day 3 in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke. He’s had the best possible confidence boost with his performance on Day 1.
Joanna Chen was the first of the Pacific island representatives to hit the pool for the swimming competition at these 22nd World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
She lined up in lane 1 for the Women’s 200m Individual Medley. It was her first time at the World 50m event and as she explained breathlessly afterwards, it was important to achieve her short-term targets during the race,
‘Being my first time at such a big competition, and just being able to get on the blocks and be there was super fun and such a great opportunity for me. I think going through that race, my main priority was doing the best I can, achieving my race plan and being able to hit what my coach is telling me to do for this race and most of all just have fun.’
The 17 year-old came home in a time of 2-48.66 and reflected on how she’d been working on the instructions of her coach in Cairns, Australia.
‘I think training back in Cairns, my coach talked to me about building my stroke rate and being able to maintain my stroke rate throughout the 200 IM, especially in the breaststroke, trying to keep the tempo up.’
Since before her most recent competition the Pacific Mini Games in Palau, she’s also been developing her underwater work.
‘Yeah, the underwater work has been pretty good. After Palau I really got back into training and really honed in on that with my coach.’
All this hard work adds to her continued development and reflects her general positive character and hard work which means she makes the most of enjoying her big occasions in the pool. The smile on her face was almost as broad as the competition pool itself as she spoke with pride about these Championships.
‘Oh man, just walking out there. All the cheering was definitely a whole new level, but again I’m super grateful to be here to represent my country.’
Before she left us to warm down, Joanna gave us the heads up regarding another interest of hers, namely producing Tik Tok content. Apparently, before the championships are over we should be on the look-out for a Team Oceania Tik Tok put together by the swimmers.
However, before that Joanna and her coach will be focussing fully on her second event, the 50m backstroke on Day 4 here in Singapore.
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Written by The Reporters’ Academy