Samoa Swimming attended the FINA World Championships (25m) last month in Hangzhou, China. The team boasted four elite swimmers who made significant inroads on the results scoreboard. Veteran male swimmer, Brandon Schuster, made Federation history in achieving FINA B qualifying times in both the 200m IM and 400 IM. His world ranking in the 200IM is now set at 31st and his 400m IM world ranking soared to 26th after coming first by over 4 seconds in his heat. “I am not a short course meter swimmer”, explains Schuster. “I have improved over the past two years as I swim collegiate swimming in the USA for a NCAA Division 1 university where we swim in a 25-yard pool (22 meters). Americans love their walls and they are fast. So, these smaller pools have helped me though I favour the 50m course. At the end of the day, I was super happy to get B qualifying times!”
Coach Suzie Schuster couldn’t have been more pleased with Brandon’s times and also was ecstatic with seasoned senior swimmer Lushavel Stickland’s performance. “Not only was B qualification achieved, Lushavel had success in doing three back-to-back major events and perfected a training programme that catered to taper and performance demand within a six-week timeframe. It is not easy for swimmers to do repeat performances, especially sprinters, but Lushavel embraced this challenge and managed to hit personal best times within all of these competitions. She was only 100th of seconds off of B qualifying times which is another testimony to her hard work and strong training ethic”, voiced Coach Schuster.
New to the World stage were two junior swimmers. 17-year-old Thomas Auega Morriss, who trains in North Shore, New Zealand, was able to achieve personal best times and rose to the challenges of competing at the World level. Local swimmer, Andrea Schuster, rounded off the team who entered into the competition with some apprehension due to a lead up of sea-based training due to the pool closure in Samoa. “I know the sea training doesn’t translate well into pool training. Athletes are light in the ocean, but when we go into the pool our bodies are heavy and there is a lot of resistance. I wasn’t sure how I would perform, but the experience was awesome”, resonated Andrea Schuster. She needn’t to have worried as she was able to achieve personal best times in her sprint events and took away a first-class experience.
With the team’s recent wave of success, their journey now is back to their training sets with the focus on performance goal setting and swimming faster with the anticipation of the 2019 Pacific Games in July.
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