HAD the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics women’s swimming qualification period started this month, Filipino tanker Kayla Sanchez would have qualified already.
Sanchez posted a 100m freestyle national record of 53.46 seconds at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, California last Thursday.
That new Philippine standard is faster than the Olympic qualification ‘A entry standard’ of 53.60 seconds.
The ‘B entry standard’ is 54.14 seconds.
Only, the Olympic swimming qualification period will begin on March 1 next year to June 18, 2028.
Sanchez, who finished sixth overall in the Irvine meet, topped her previous national record of 53.67 seconds she posted at the Paris Olympics.
An Olympic silver and bronze medalist in team events for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, Sanchez switched federations in 2023 and made her debut as a Philippine athlete at the Hangzhou Asian Games before competing at the Olympics the next year.
Born to Filipino parents who migrated to Canada, Sanchez bagged three gold medals in her Southeast Asian Games debut in Thailand last December.
The 25-year-old banners the Philippine 6-member team at the Asian Games next month in Japan.
Sanchez will be joined by Heather White, Xiandi Chua, Teia Salvino, Logan Noguchi, and Gian Santos, who likewise set a national record in Irvine.
Santos timed 1 minute and 49.78sec in the men’s 200m freestyle heats to top the previous national mark of 1:50:29 set by Adrian Eichler at the German championships in 2025.
Santos’ new national record is still far from both the Olympic men’s A and B entry standards of 1:45.83 and 1:46.89, respectively, though.
