Ho-A-Shu breaks Trinidad and Tobago swim record, but misses semis spot

Trinidad and Tobago swimmer Tyla Ho-A-Shu broke her national record in the women's 50-metre breaststroke, but missed out on a spot in the semi-final of the event at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships 2023 in Netanya, Israel, on Monday.

Ho-A-Shu and Nikoli Blackman are representing TT at the meet.

Ho-A-Shu was second in heat three in 33.11 seconds, erasing her previous national record of 33.37. She finished behind Israel's Hadar Karp, who stopped the clock at 32.91. Indian swimmer Manavi Varma ended third in 33.84.

Heat three was not as fast as some of the other races, as no swimmers advanced to the semi-finals from heat three. Ho-A-Shu ended 24th overall out of the 58 swimmers who started the heats, missing out on one of the 16 semi-final places.

Blackman, who won three gold medals for TT at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad last month, will splash into action in the men's 200m freestyle on Tuesday.

Blackman, who started at the University of Tennessee in August, will swim in lane two of heat five at 4.12 am.