Alex Sobers of Barbados continued his awesome streak of hitting Olympic B standards at the ISCA Senior International. This time on the last day of competition on March in St Petersburg Florida he completed the freestyle trifecta when the Eagles Aquatics swimmer made the standard in the 100 metre freestyle after made the mark in the 400 and 200 metre metre freestyle races previously.
He cruised to make it to the Championship final after posting a 100 yards time of 44.36 (split time 21.51).The morning swim was the seventh fastest in his career. In that race he went out in 24.31 and came back in 25.47 to record a new personal best of 49.78.
The race went to the defending World Champion in the event American Caeleb Dressel representing the Gator Swim club in 48.84. The silver was won by North Carolina State bound Arsenio Bustos of Woodbridge Aquatic Club in 49.25.
That effort by Sobers saw him setting a new personal best and national record and bettering the Olympic B standard.
The Olympic B standard stands at 50.03.
His old personal mark had stood at 50 .51 from his swim in the Championship final at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla ,Colombia .
The old record had been set more than a decade when Shawn Clarke led off the national team in 50.40 at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. That team which Martyn Forde 51.85 on the second leg ,Terrence Haynes 50.67 as the third man and Vaughn Forsythe 54.23 set the relay mark of 3:27.15 which still stands today.
Comparison of personal bests and national record splits
| 100 metre freestyle | Sobers 2018 | Clarke 2009 | Sobers 2021 |
| First 50 metres | 24.00 | 24.48 | 24.31 |
| Second 50 metres | 26.51 | 25.92 | 25.47 |
| Final Time | 50.51 | 50.40 | 49.78 |
With better conditioning Sobers has been able to finish almost a second faster now than compared to 2018.
That swim also places Alex in the top ten fastest swimmers in the event from the CARIFTA region.
| Mehdy Metella | 47.56 | 2017 | 1 |
| Shaune Fraser | 48.47 | 2009 | 2 |
| Dylan Carter | 48.52 | 2019 | 3 |
| Brett Fraser | 48.54 | 2012 | 4 |
| Lorys Bourelly | 49.03 | 2015 | 5 |
| Mikel Schreuders | 49.08 | 2019 | 6 |
| Renzo Tjon A Joe | 49.29 | 2019 | 7 |
| Kenzo Simons | 49.67 | 2020 | 8 |
| Alex Sobers | 49.78 | 2021 | 9 |
| Julien Sicot | 49.90 | 2003 | 10 |
These early season performances by Sobers augurs well for the rest of the season. The lowering of more national records and Olympic A standards swims cannot be far off with the quality shown by Alex in Florida.
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