DAY FIVE BALMY AND TULLIUS SWIM CARIFTA REGION BEST IN FREESTYLE AND BACKSTROKE. VANDERPOOL-WALLACE JUST OUTSIDE OF SEMI FINAL BERTH

Coralie Balmy Photo courtesy of Coralie Balmy

 

 

The 5^th day of competition saw CARIFTA region bests being recorded.

Coralie Balmy Photo courtesy of Coralie Balmy

 

 

In the 800 metre freestyle relay heats Coralie Balmy (Martinique/France) started the relay with a split of 1:57.38 (splits 57.51 and 59.87). That was the 5^th fastest split of the morning session. It bettered her CARIFTA region best of 1:58.83 set earlier during the Games. The French team finished 10^th with a time of 7:55.55.

Rex Tullius Photo courtsey of vifreepress.com

 

The US Virgin Islands Rexford Tullius became the first swimmer from his country to compete in the 200 metre backstroke when he placed 20^th in 1:59.14.That performance is a CARIFTA region best for the event. The previous standard was held by a team mate of Tullius at the University of Florida, Brett Fraser of the Cayman Islands. Fraser had stopped the clock in 2:01.17 at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Photo courtesy of fitterandfaster.com

 

Sprint Queen Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of The Bahamas just missed a semi-final berth in the 100 metre freestyle when she clocked 54.56 (splits 26.11 and 28.45). She was mere 6 100ths outside of 16^th place. Arianna however still retains her title as the fastest female swimmer in this event at the Olympics. This is courtesy of the 53.73 that she registered at the London 2012 Games.