Lacuna, Alkhaldi shine in Singapore

MANILA, Philippines - Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi continued to fare well in the 2010 Singapore national age-group swimming championships, both achieving another Youth Olympic Games (YOG) qualifying time yesterday.

Jose Gonzalez, likewise, met the YOG standard, making it a total of five YOG qualifying times the Philippine bets have achieved in the Singapore swimfest so far.

Lacuna clocked 52.39 while Alkhaldi submitted a time of 57.61 in the 100m freestyle for boys and girls, respectively. Both made the final set yesterday afternoon.

Gonzalez hit the YOG qualifying time in the 200m backstroke in 2:09.19.

Lacuna and Alkhaldi swam in record-breaking fashion Thursday, getting the Filipino youth swimmers to a swashbuckling start in the Singapore swimfest serving as a qualifier for the 2011 Youth Olympic Games.

Lacuna, 16, registered 1:50.90 in 200m freestyle, shattering Miguel Molina’s national record of 1:51.75, while Alkhaldi clocked 2:04.98 in the distaff side, eclipsing Akiko Thomson’s national 15-17 age-group mark of 2:07.23 set almost two decades ago.

Lacuna achieved YOG A standard time for his effort while Alkhaldi earned YOG B qualifying time for her feat.