Botswana’s swimming trio, Yun-suh Chang, Andile Bekker and Adrian Robinson have set personal bests at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships that was held in Budapest, Hungary from the 10th to 15th December 2024.
Robinson 100m breaststroke 1:00:68 personal best and national record was ranked at 51 while in the 50m breaststroke he recorded a 27: 52 personal best and with his national record was ranking at 48. Bekker’s 400m freestyle personal best stood at 4:09.55 and was ranked at 48 while in the 200m freestyle he recorded 1:55.76 personal best ranking at position 60.
Chang has achieved 1:16.41 personal best in the 100m breaststroke with her national record ranked at 60, while in the 50m breaststroke she recorded 34.10 personal best and her national record stands at 53.
In an interview, the team’s Coach Val Ives has appreciated the team for recording its personal best indicating that they did exceptionally well. He stated that the team trains constantly throughout the year and his believe is that all the swimmers were well prepared hence they gained personal best times.
He expressed that all three swimmers have been working intensely with their respective coaches in preparation for the event.
“The three swimmers were training in different parts of the world. Chang was preparing for this event in Francistown, while Bekker has been studying and swimming in the USA and Robinson has been training in Hungary,” he said.
According to Ives, as a world event, the competition was very important for swimmers to be involved and representing Botswana by competing at the world stage. Meanwhile, the World Aquatics Swimming Championships had attracted more than 188 countries from around the world. The United States topped the medal table, winning 18 gold & 39 medals in total, and broke 21 world records in the championships, were named the best team award.
