200m freestyle final: Lacuna fades, finishes 8th

SINGAPORE – Jessie Lacuna failed in his bid for a medal in the first Youth Olympic Games, finishing eighth and last in the final of the 200m free at the Singapore Sports School here last night.

Lacuna, who finished third in his heat early in the day to get the No. 7 ranking in the eight-man final, found himself in sixth place in the first 50m with a 26.25 clocking but lagged behind as the race reached the halfway mark and after 150m.

The 16-year-old Bulacan native, the youngest among the finalists, eventually timed 1:51.95, slower than his 1:51.52 clocking in the elims, falling short of his bid to edge Dutch Dion Dreesens, who clocked 151.76, for seventh.

Russian Andrei Ushakov bagged the gold medal with an impressive 1:49.81 effort while Venezuelan Cristian Quintero took the silver in 1:49.98.

Canada’s Jeremy Bagshaw nipped compatriot Chard Bobrosky for the bronze in 1:50.67. Bobrosky timed 1:50.86.

Still, it was a good swim for Lacuna as the race was actually close among the last four in their sprint to the finish with Matt Stanley of New Zealand turning in a 1.51.59 clocking for fifth followed by Jun Dai of China (1:51.66).

“Despite his finish, it was a close race. Jessie gave his best and his time is the new standard for all the youth in the RP swimming to strive for,” said RP chief of mission Mark Joseph.

He added: “It represents a modest achievement for the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association to have taken this young boy from his good town in Bulacan to the Olympics. It also proved that the Filipino can. Pasa will stay the course and prepare the next batch of young Olympians with the medal in mind.”

Jasmin Alkhaldi, meanwhile, missed the finals of the girls 100m free, finishing 12th among 16 semifinalists dominated by tall, wide-bodied lasses, led by Emma McKeon of Australia.

Alkhaldi clocked 58.01, improving her time of 58.16 in the morning elims although it was slower than the 57.12 effort she dished out in the recent Singapore national tilt where she ripped the old RP mark of 59.19 set by Fil-Am Christel Simms in the Beijing Olympics.

McKeon topped the two-set semis in 55.64 while China’s Yi Tang placed second in 56.22 followed by Slovak Katarina Listopadova.

Meanwhile, Alkhaldi vies next in the 200m free Wednesday and then in the 50m free on Thursday while Lacuna sees action in the 200m fly on Friday.