Nikoli Blackman, Zuri Ferguson ousted in World Aquatics Champs 100m free, 50m backstroke heats

Neither Nikoli Blackman nor Zuri Ferguson progressed out of their respective event heats when day four of the World Aquatics Championships swam off at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang on July 29.

Blackman, 20, placed tenth in heat 11 of 12 of the men’s 100m freestyle. He clocked 48.86 seconds and finished 29th overall. The top four finishers in this heat – Romanian Popovici (47.41s), Americans Patrick Sammon (48.04s) and Jack Alexy (48.07s), and German Josha Salchow (48.13s) respectively, advanced to the next round.

Likewise, TT female representative Ferguson did not advance out of her women’s 50m backstroke after placing eighth in heat four of seven.

Swimming out of lane eight, Ferguson touched the wall in 29.81 seconds with Argentinian Andrea Berrino (29.05s), Thailand’s Saovanee Boonamphai (29.17s) and Taipei’s Ya Jia Chang (29.25s) claiming the top three spots respectively.

Ferguson’s time was 40th overall. She returns to the pool on July 31 for the 200m backstroke heats.

After press time on July 30, two-time Olympian Dylan Carter was set to line up in lane nine of heat 12 of the men’s 50m freestyle. Additionally, TT’s Isabella Dieffenthaller began her 100m freestyle quest racing out of heat six, after press time on July 30.