HANGZHOU – A podium finish eluded Olympian Kayla Sanchez anew after losing out in the women’s 50-meter backstroke of the 19th Asian Games.
The 22-year-old Sanchez finished sixth in the race at the HOC Aquatic Sports Arena on Monday night that saw the Chinese pair of Xueer Wang and Letian Wan complete a one-two finish.
Sanchez clocked 28.66 seconds in her first individual foray as a new member of the Philippine swimming team.
On Sunday, she anchored the women’s 4x100m relay team to a fifth-place finish in a new Philippine record of 3:44.31 seconds.
Despite medal-less in her first two races in the Asiad, Sanchez, owner of two team medals in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, remains satisfied with her twin performance so far.
“I’m incredibly proud. I would like to say this is the new era of my career, and to start it with a new national record is very exciting. I can’t wait to improve more in the future,” she said.
“I’m happy with my swim. Of course, it’s not a medal, but I’m always pushing to do my best, and I would have loved to bring home a medal in this event for the Philippines.”
Sanchez will again race Tuesday in the women’s 100m freestyle and on Wednesday in the 50m freestyle.
Tiea Salvino raced together with Sanchez in the same event (50 m backstroke) and finished last at No. 8 with a time of 28.79 seconds.
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