Day 3 of the swimming at the World Aquatics Championships saw Kouki Watanabe compete in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke. The high school student from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, lined up alongside fellow Pacific islander Beula Sanga of the Solomon Islands.
Kouki had already posted a personal best in the 100m version of the discipline and was pinning his hopes on breaking the National Record of 31.31 seconds set by Eli Wong 14 years ago. Breaking any time which has stood for over a decade is a tough task, but Kouki had been in a determined mood since his first race of these championships.
The signs were promising as he broke from the blocks to hit the water first in a reaction time of 0.65 seconds. He kept that lead throughout the one length race and touched the wall first of the five starters. All that remained to be seen was that all important time. As the TV camera caught his winning moment it also caught Kouki’s reaction to his time.
31.36. Not the elusive National Record that he wanted but a excellent personal best and a 17-18 Age Group Record.
Although there was still a little competitive disappointment when he arrived in the interview area, he was able to express his thoughts on the race.
‘I think in this case, it’s just all mental at this point because you have to have that strong will to at least finish strong and want to get a good time. But I guess I was just missing a little bit of that, which is so unfortunate and so disappointing.’
His response gave an insight into the high expectations and hard work that goes into Kouki’s craft. A personal best time and Age Group Record and he’s analysing those marginal gains needed for his next steps.
‘I was feeling very nice but my arms started dying the last 15.’
Both time and ability are on the side of Kouki, regarding any future National Record. It’s within touching distance. ‘Trust the process’ can be an overused term in modern sport but in this case the process is leading everything in the right direction, which Kouki recognises. He’s still eager to keep pushing forwards, even utilising this elite environment when he’s out of the pool.
‘We don’t usually get the chance to meet the very top swimmers, just on Instagram and stuff like that. So, it’s a great experience to have a conversation with them, and ask what they do to go so fast. That’s a really good thing about coming here.’
You get the impression of a young man in a hurry who wants to squeeze every drop of his talent out of himself. A swimmer who sets examples and leads. As such, his final answer was of no surprise,
‘I’ve just got one year left of high school so I’m planning to apply for a college and continue my swimming career. I want to get back to training as fast as possible. I want to train hard to get that National Record.’
–Ends–
Written by The Reporters’ Academy. Photos by Andrea Schuster