Despite not advancing to the semifinal round, two of the three T & T athletes achieved personal bests in the 100 metre freestyle event swum of this morning (India Time) at the Commonwealth Games in India.
All three T & T swimmers were seeded in heat four, and copped the top three places in the heat. Caryle Blondell lead the heat up to the 50m mark where he split 25 seconds flat. However it was Joshua Mc Leod who stopped the clock first in a personal beat 52.07 seconds to win the heat, improving on his personal best of 52.11.
Jarryd Gregoire was just 0.01 behind Mc Leod, and he too surpassed his personal best which was 52.37. Blondell placed third in 52.60 seconds. The final results placed the trio 21st, 22nd and 24th respectively. The fastest qualifier for the event was Gideon Louw of South Africa in 49.24. Brothers Shaune (49.93) and Brett Fraser (50.21) of the Cayman Islands gave the Caribbean a berth in the semifinal placing 7th and 11th respectively. T & T based Guyanese athlete Jessica Stephenson placed 5th in Heat One of the 200m breaststroke female in a time of 2:49.56.
Mc Leod, Gregoire and Cadell Lyons will compete in the 100m butterfly tomorrow. Christian Homer will also be in action in the 100m backstroke. Cherelle Thompson is also expected to compete in her pet event the 50m freestyle.