Brett and Shaune finish well at World Championships

| 31/07/2009

(CNS): FINAL UPDATE Friday 8:35pm – At the World Championships in Rome, Brett and Shaune Fraser, both swimming in events that are not normally the focus of their training, again swam extremely well this morning, both establishing new National Records in the process. Brett took down his older brother”s National Record in the 50 Metre Freestyle, swimming a time of 22.80 which placed him 45th of the 209 athletes taking part in the event. Shaune swam 53.07 which was a full second faster than his best and left him in 55th place with yet another Cayman National Record time.

156 swimmers took to the blocks in the 100 Metre Butterfly, Coach Dominic Ross reports

"Over the course of the eight day competition both Shaune and Brett have again proven that they are indeed now major players on the international swimming stage," said Ross. "Their continued hard work and dedication to the sport will undoubtedly see them continue to improve as they strive towards London 2012 with the support of their family, friends, coaches and the Cayman community as a whole."

Both swimmers swam solid personal best times in the 100 Metre Freestyle Monday night, finishing just outside the top 16 semi-final qualifying places. Brett’s time of 48.56 seconds left him 19th in the World, Shaune was one place ahead, in 18th in a new personal best and Cayman Islands National Record time of 48.47 seconds, 0.04 seconds outside of qhat was needed to advance to the semi-finals. Both were within a second of the top qualifier, Dave Walters of the USA.

Shaune will conclude his World Championships with the 100 Metre Butterfly while Brett will finish up with the 50Metre Freestyle.

On Sunday, Shaune Fraser again lowered his National Record in the 200 Metre Freestyle, to a time of 1:46.44 in his first appearance in a World Championship Semi-Final in Rome, Italy. His overall place of 10th in the event was not quite enough to make it through to the final, where the top 8 swimmers will compete. Coach Dominic Ross reports that Fraser is next scheduled to compete in the 200 Metre Butterfly heats on Tuesday followed by both Shaune and his brother Brett in the 100 Metre Freestyle heats on Wednesday. (Photo Shurna Robbins for the CIOC)

Fraser smashed his own National Record in the 200 Metre Freestyle set in last Summer’s Olympic Games by almost two seconds to become the first ever Cayman swimmer to qualify for a World Championship Semi-Final, taking the 11th spot after the morning preliminaries in a time of 1:46.89 seconds. Brett was not far behind and also under Shaune’s old National Record, in a time of 1:48.18, finishing the event in 24th place.

Olympic mega-champion Michael Phelps has advanced to the final of his first individual event at the world swimming championships. Germany’s Paul Biedermann set a championship record with a time of 1:43.65 seconds in the semifinals. Phelps, who holds the world record with1:42.96, wasthe third-fastest qualifier at 1:45.23.

Ross said both the Fraser brothers have a lot more swimming to do as the Championships continue in Rome throughout the week. Full results can be found at www.omegatiming.com

 

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  1. Your Family says:

    Congrats Shaune & Brett on your achievement so far may God Continue to help you excel to greater heights.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Excellent! So proud of my good hard-working Caymanians like these, discipled, handsome, smart and top class athletes!!

    Swimming and track have produced the best results for Cayman yet they seem to be afterthoughts to football for some inexplicable reason.

    Swimming – even with the cramped, too small 50m pool has consistently produced regional and international swimmers:

    we need to support swimming programmes – and develop proper facilities. Clearly, they deserve it!

    Way to go, Frasers!

     

     

  3. Pier Brown says:

    Way to go guys!!  Congratulations on your superb swims!!! "Heights of great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight…"  Love You.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well done guys! You are a credit to your parents and Cayman. One parent a born Caymanian and another a ‘foreign national"-shows how such relationships can benefit and strenthen a country such as ours, something so often forgotten in the us versus them stuff we see so much of. 

  4. Anonymous says:

    Well done Brett & Shaune. Keep up the effort and I hope that it shows others what is possible.

    I apologise on behalf of the ignorant person who made the political comment @ 17:10. I can only presume that person assumes that you only started swimming on May 21, 2009.

  5. Anonymous says:

    This type of tremendous sporting success would never have happened under a PPM government.  Well done!

  6. Anonymous says:

    CONGRATULATIONS!  What an incredibly wonderful achievement.  I fear the vast majority do not understand exactly what dedication, determination, devotion & sacrifice it takes for these youngsters to excel at such a level … not to mention the hard work, hours of training, fatigue, early morning swims, early evening bed-times (!) & much more.  Brett and Shaune are to be commended for their success for in a society such as the one they’re growing up in, none of this is easy.  WELL DONE!  

  7. A Concerned Caymanian says:

    We need to encourage our youth so that we can produce outcomes like this!

  8. Anonymous says:

    Congrats to Brett and Shaune. Outstanding performances. We need more young role models such as these brothers and I hope that they will share their experiences with the students at our schools.  

  9. Anonymous says:

    What a breath of fresh air.  Amidst all the negative things happening with our young people its so refreshing to see young men who are focused.  Keep up the good work guys.  I can only imagine how proud their parents must be. Cayman Islands finally gets on a scoreboard.