5-year-old Justin gets Olympian’s training

Five-year-old Justin Daniel Junio is the youngest swimmer to cross a channel and he is a normal, playful little boy in every way — until you see him swim.

Justin crossed the Mactan Channel in Cebu on Oct. 8, swimming five kilometers to cross the 3.6-kilometer channel while fighting strong currents. Junio is the youngest son of retired Col. Florencio Junio of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the former Velena Pinlac.

The Junio couple were inspired by the story of a seven-year-old boy who swam to Alcatraz island in May. They are supportive of their son, who showed talent and promise as a swimmer at the tender age of 11 months — when he jumped into a pool where his mother and siblings were swimming and managed to stay afloat by dog-paddling.

Justin later began swimming lessons when he was in nursery and Olympic swimmer M/Sgt. Jairulla Jaitulla later took Justin under his wing.

Justin is described as a quick and energetic learner and he now swims 102 laps a day and skillfully executes the four main strokes.

Prior to swimming the Mactan Channel, Justin trained by swimming 3.6 kilometers — just so he and his coach could see how far Justin could swim in one go.

Making a practice swim before his Oct. 8 feat, Justin swam from the Lapu-Lapu ferry dock on Mactan island to Mandaue City and back. On the day itself, Justin had to reverse directions because of strong currents. His coach anticipated that Justin would be in the water for over an hour, which was their target time.

Justin finished his channel crossing in an hour and a half, accompanied by his coach and five frogmen, his father staying close to them in a boat, along with Alaska Milk Corp. president and chief operating officer Wilfred Steven Uytengsu and Philippine triathlon champion Nonoy Jopson.