Fraser beats personal best

(CNS): On Sunday 10 August, Shaune Fraser, the first Cayman Islands athlete to take part in the Beijing Olympics, set a new personal best in the 200-metre freestyle, considered his strongest event, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 1:48.60.

However, with a ranking of 26 out of 57 swimmers in this event, it was not enough to get him into the top 16 spots to make the semi-finals, with Dominik Meichtry of Switzerland (1:45.80), Jean Basson of South Africa (1:46.31), Bren Hayden of Canada (1:46.40), Michael Phelps of USA (1:46.48) and Colin Russell of Canada (1:46.58) taking the top five spots.

On Tuesday Michael Phelps won the event and his third gold medal at Beijing, breaking his own world record for 200m freestyle in the process. The American touched in 1 minute, 42.96 seconds, lowering his old mark of 1:43.86 set at last year’s world championships in Australia.

Fraser said of his own performance, "I should have been happy with it but I think I could have gone a little faster. I am just trying to get ready for my other events now like my 100 freestyle. That should be a good one."

"There was a lot of pressure and expectation on him for this event," said Cayman Swimming Coach Dominic Ross. "He wanted to do well and he dropped his time. But now that it is out of the way he can move on to other events."

Shaune is also competing in the 100-metre freestyle heat today, Tuesday, and the 100-metre butterfly (heats on Thursday). His brother Brett Fraser is competing in the 200-metre backstroke (heat on Wednesday).

"Everything is still settling in," said Brett. "The atmosphere is just crazy. The relay today just got me really hyped up. I am really into the Games now and everything is exciting. I am really looking forward to when I have to swim.”