Alkhaldi, Hall shatter national swim marks

MANILA, Philippines - Olympian and elite swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi set a new Philippine record in 100m fly while Josh Hall shattered the 100m breaststroke mark during the 15th FINA World Championships at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain recently.

Alkhaldi turned in a 1:01.71 clocking to improve her personal record of 1:01.95 she set during the 2012 London Olympics..

Hall, a Fil-Am bet based in Wisconsin, also broke the previous record held by Miguel Molina in the 100m breaststroke, clocking 1:02.87. Molina’s previous best was 1:03.89 posted in the 2010 Pan Pacific Swim Championships.

Alkhaldi, meanwhile, will still compete in the 100m free while Hall will see action in the 50m and 200m breaststroke.

Jessie Lacuna, also an Olympian and a Speedo elite sponsored athlete, will compete in 100m free and 100m fly categories.

Meanwhile, Team Speedo dominated the early going of the event with China’s Sun Yang putting on a breathtaking display in the 400m free.

Sun established a huge lead from the start and maintained it to win by a margin of almost three seconds in 3:41.50.

Katie Ledecky also stamped her class in women’s 400m free with the 16-year-old American, in the Speeding Fastskin LZR Racer Elite 2 suit, posting a 3:59.82 clocking. She beat Melanie Costa-Schmid and New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle, who also wore Speedo suits.

In women’s 4x100m free, Team USA bested the Speedo-sponsored Australian team to the post in dramatic fashion. With the Aussies having established an early lead, Natalie Coughlin swam an impressive second leg of the relay to build ground as the Americans rallied to win in 3:32.21.

Australia, led by Speedo ambassador Alicia Coutts, settled for silver.

In the men’s 4x100m free, France, led by Team Speedo’s Florent Manaudou, humbled Ryan Lochte and Team USA to capture the gold in stirring fashion.