Phl swimmers reset records

The four-man Philippine national swimming team broke two national records in the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Jason Mahmutoglu reset the Philippine record in men’s 50-meter butterfly after clocking in 23.84 seconds as he finished 45th overall.

The 20-year-old tanker overshadowed the 23.94-second mark set by by Joshua Ang last 23 August at the Philippine National Trials.

Then, Mahmutoglu teamed up with Adrian Philip Eichler and Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Chloe Isleta and Xiandi Chua to set a new Philippine record in the 4x50-m medley relay with a time of one minute and 46.56 seconds as they finished in 27th place overall in the heats.

The previous record in this event was held by the quartet of Roxanne Ashley Yu, Dhill Anderson Lee, Evangelio Dato and Jeremy Brian Lim after they clocked in 1:50.67 minutes in the 2014 edition of the World Championships in Doha.

No medal yet for the Filipino tankers but it isn’t over yet as Mahmutoglu is competing in the men’s 50-m backstroke at press time.

Also competing at press time are Isleta in the women’s 100-m medley and Eichler in the men’s 400-m freestyle.

The Philippines’ best finish in a short course swimming pool this year belongs to Chua after placing seventh in the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup-Stop 3 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore.

The De La Salle University swimmer finished with a time of 2:14.10 minutes in the final of the women’s 200-m butterfly.

Jasmine Mojdeh was the only other Filipino tanker to reach a final this year in the World Cup as she finished eighth overall in the same event as Chua.

Mojdeh, who took home five gold medals in the Palarong Pambansa last June, finished with a time of 2:16.58 minutes in her first stint in the World Cup final.

The World Championships will run until 15 December.