CEBU, Philippines – The Palarong Pambansa 2024 swimming competition continued to make waves, literally and figuratively, as the Philippines’ best young athletes stayed relentless in breaking records in the second game day on Friday, July 12, at the Cebu City Sports Center.
None other than day 1 star Jasmine Mojdeh of Calabarzon kickstarted the record-breaking trend for the day, as she notched a 2:41.75 finish at the girls secondary 200-meter breaststroke and broke the previous mark of 2:43.08 set by swimming icon Xiandi Chua of NCR in 2019.
Less than 24 hours prior, Mojdeh, the US NCAA recruit, broke her own five-year-old record in the 200m butterfly (2:19.72) by nearly three seconds.
Another Calabarzon standout, Peter Cyrus Dean, then made history at the boys secondary 200m individual medley, edging the old 2:12.58 by mere milliseconds (2:12.14).
That wouldn’t be Dean’s final appearance on the day’s historic list as he again resurfaced in the 4×100 medley relay, where he, Joart Calderon, Reinelle Trinidad, and fellow record-holder TJ Amaro tallied a 3:58.39 finish to break the previous 4:00.75 mark set last year by the NCR team.
Interestingly, the 4×100 medley relay’s second placers also broke the record on the way to a silver-medal finish, as Ashton Jose, Hugh Parto, Jabrielle Delizo, and individual race record-holder Ivo Nikolai Enot notched a time of 3:59.69.
Bicol likewise had their time in the spotlight as UST commit Beatrize Marla Mabalay clocked in at 34.35 seconds in the girls secondary 50m breaststroke, ever so slightly beating the 34.46 mark set by NCR’s Clara delos Santos last year.
The sixth and final record fell at the hands of NCR’s Palaro record-breaker Sophia Garra, most bemedalled swimmer Alessandra Martin, Adrienne Tacuboy, and Gabrielle Ocampo at the girls elementary 4×100 medley relay.
In an emphatic display of potential, the NCR super-team set in stone a 4:49.74 finish, destroying the same region’s 18-year-old record (4:55.08) by nearly six seconds.
Expect many of the names in this rundown to again dominate the leaderboards, and very likely the history books anew, as day 3 begins on Saturday, July 13, 1 pm. – Rappler.com
