15th Fina Short Course World Swimming Championships 2021 Mathieu Bachmann smashes two national records Mathieu Bachmann was Seychelles’ top swimmer at the 15th Fina World Swimming Short Course Championships 2021 held in Abu Dhabi, smashing two national |24 December 2021

MATHIEU BACHMANN … Two national records

Mathieu Bachmann was Seychelles’ top swimmer at the 15th Fina World Swimming Short Course Championships 2021 held in Abu Dhabi, smashing two national records previously held by Kenny Roberts.

Races took place in the 25m (short course) temporary pool installed at the Etihad Sport Complex from December 16-21, 2021.

In the men’s 100m butterfly, Bachmann finished with a time of 55.43 seconds to be ranked seventh in heat number three and at the same time erase the previous national short course record of 56.62 seconds established by Kenny Roberts in December 1998 in Reunion.

Bachmann erased another of Roberts’ records when he touched the wall in the 100m freestyle heat number six race in a time of 51.03 seconds to be ranked eight. In the process, he erased from the record books Roberts’ previous record time of 51.56 seconds set in March 2000 at the Fina World Swimming Short Course Championships in Athens, Greece.

The swimmers were accompanied by head coach Vanessa Narty and head of the delegation Maureen Payet who is also the secretary of the Seychelles Swimming Association (SSA).

SSA chairman David Vidot and secretary Maureen Payet attended the Fédération international de Natation (Fina) general congress on December 18 at the Hilton Hotel, Abu Dhabi. The four swimmers were selected by the SSA based on the highest Fina points scored.

The championships were previously scheduled for December 13-18 but moved back three days on February 24, 2021.

Originally scheduled to be held in 2020, the championships were pushed back one year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In September 2021, it was announced the championships would be part of a larger aquatics programme called the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, which included competition in open water swimming, diving, and high diving.

Seychellois official Paul Fanchette was also in Abu Dhabi as one of four referees.

The following are the results of the three other Seychellois swimmers who took part in the championships.

Simon Bachmann

• Men’s 200m butterfly ‒ heat 2 with a time of 2 minutes 04.29 seconds (2:04.29) and ranked 6th in his heat.
• Men’s 400m medley 400m – heat 1 with a time of 4:30.97 and ranked 4th in his heat.

Khema Elizabeth

• Women’s 100m freestyle – heat 2 with a time of 1:02.76 and ranked 1st in her heat. She established a new personal best.
• Women’s 50m butterfly – heat 2 with a time of 30.30 seconds and ranked 3rd in her heat. She established a new personal best.

Aaliyah Palestrini

• Women’s 50m backstroke – heat 6 with a time of 30.43 seconds and ranked 5th in her heat. She established a new personal best.
• Women’s 100m medley – heat 1 with a time of 1:10.20 and ranked 5th in her heat.

• 40x50m mixed medley relay team of Aaliyah Palestrini, Khema Elizabeth, Simon Bachmann and Mathieu Bachman – Heat 0 with a time of 1:53.68 and ranked 6th in the heat.
• 40x50m mixed freestyle relay of Aaliyah Palestrini, Khema Elizabeth, Simon Bachmann and Mathieu Bachman ‒ Heat 2 with a time of 1:43.53 and ranked 5th in the heat.

Gerard Govinden