By REYNALD MAGALLON
A national record-setting performance propelled Kayla Sanchez to the semifinals of the women’s 100m freestyle in the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Paris La Defense Arena on Tuesday, July 30.
Sanchez clocked 53.67 seconds to finish at joint 10th with Great Britain’s Anna Hopkins and very well inside the top 16 that would advance to the next round of the competition.
The Fil-Canadian, who won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo edition as part of Canada’s relay teams, eclipsed her own national record and entry time of 54.25sec which she set during Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet last June.
Sanchez actually finished fourth in her heat that also included Tokyo silver medalist and Asian Games gold medalist Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong who topped Heat 4 with 53.02 sec.
World record holder Sarah Sjoestroem, however, led the way overall with a time of 52.99 sec, 0.68 seconds clear of Sanchez’s time.
Sanchez will get a few hours to reset and recover as she plunges back into action in the semifinals at 3 am on Wednesday (Manila time).
