By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Olympian Kayla Sanchez made waves in the 59th Annual Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet after clinching the gold medal in the women’s 50-meter freestyle at the University of British Columbia Aquatic Center in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend. The win booster her Olympic bid.
The Fil-Canadian clocked 25.28 seconds to capture the gold to beat eventual silver medalist Taylor Ruck (25.30sec) and bronze winner Anicka Delgado (26.04sec).
Fil-American Heather White also competed in the event but failed to make it to the podium by landing fourth with a time of 26.12sec.
Sanchez’s gold-medal feat is expected to boost her bid to earn a spot for Team Philippines in the 2024 Paris Olympics slated next month. She competed in the 2020 Tokyo Games and won two relay medals with Team Canada before switching federations in 2022.
Philippine Aquatics is expected to name one female and one male swimmer who would earn the Olympic quotas under universality rule anytime this week to join the PH team to Paris.
The leading swimmers so far are Sanchez and Jarod Hatch.
