Fresh off the back of collecting 10 medals at the Pacific Mini Games in Palau, Paige Schendelaar Kemp was in action once more in the morning Heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Her first discipline was the Women’s 100m Butterfly where she was hoping to improve on her personal best of 1-02.20 from 2019. Unfortunately, it was not to be on this occasion as she came home in a time of 1-05.21.
‘I was definitely hoping to be a lot better but sometimes things just don’t work out the way you hope, but that’s okay. On to the next. That race definitely felt very easy, which may have been a bit of a warning sign, but sometimes it feels easy and like, great. So again, I guess it just wasn’t my day today.’
It’s been a busy few weeks for Paige with one of her aims being to increase the medal tally for both herself and her nation at the Mini Games. That was achieved in abundance by the athlete who swims out of Pukekohe Swim Club in Auckland. Four of those ten medals were golden and she enjoyed the whole experience.
‘It was great fun especially being with a mix of the junior athletes and development athletes. A really fun meet.’
So how do you move from that short course experience as an elite athlete into a World Championship Long Course event in a matter of weeks?
‘Coming out here this morning was really everything, it just felt fresh, it’s a nice feeling on the first day of racing so it’s great to be here. I think for me this whole year is a big training year so it wasn’t much of a taper heading into this Meet, especially coming off a big couple of weeks at the Pacific Mini Games. So, racing this past month; there’s been a lot of learning and hopefully I’ll just keep pushing through until next year.’
Her next outing is on Day 6 in the Women’s 50m Butterfly. That pool determination and positive attitude and sheer hard work will be evidence as she strives to break more records for Samoa.
Johann Stickland, 22, was Samoa’s second swimmer in action on Day 1. He stood on the blocks ahead of the men’s 50m Butterfly and got off to a strong start by being the third fastest away.
The Olympian touched the wall in a time of 25.15 seconds and reflected afterwards,
‘Honestly, I felt really good for where I’m at. I raced a couple of weeks ago at a short course competition, the Pacific Mini Games, and my time today was pretty much the same speed but on a long course. I’m actually really happy with that because I feel as if it wasn’t my best time swimming in Palau. I’m really happy that the times are close now especially because of the change to a long course.’
On the Pacific Mini Games he went on to say,
“It’s really nice to have a nice hit out, race and have some fun with it, try some different things that I might not usually do in a bigger Meet such as this. So I think it’s really good practice, you can’t really mimic that feeling in training.’
Johann is an experienced competitor at major Meets with four medals from the last Pacific Games and a five time medallist at the Oceania Championships. You can tell he’s enjoying his swimming at the moment. As such, is it still the same buzz as it used to be attending these Championships?
‘Yeah, it’s a real interesting feeling. I still feel like – good jitters. My first World Champs was last year. I was real nervous for that. Now, I just really enjoy the environment, enjoy the racing, it’s nice to race with my fellow Pacific islanders.’
Next up for Johann is the ‘splash and dash’ the 50m Freestyle Heats on Day 6.
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Written by The Reporters’ Academy. Photos by Andrea Schuster