Kayla Sanchez advances to 100m freestyle semis in Paris Olympics with new national record

Filipina-Canadian swimmer Kayla Sanchez displayed her winning form, shattering the national record en route to a semifinals spot in the women's 100m freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Tuesday at the Paris La Defense Arena. 

The 23-year-old tanker, who previously bannered Canada during the Tokyo Olympics where she copped two medals, clocked an impressive 53.67 seconds to finish fourth in Heat 4 and make the 16-player semis cut. Overall, she finished 10th out of all competitors. 

She is now on track to get her third podium finish in the Summer Games.

Her record-breaking performance allowed her to reset the national record she also set last June in Mel Zajac Jr. International Meet in Canada, where she recorded 54.25 seconds. 

World record holder Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden (51.71 seconds) topped the field after she clocked 52.99 seconds followed by Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, who registered 53.02 seconds. 

Junxuan Yang of China came in third with 53.05 seconds. 

Sanchez will plunge right back into action at 3:33 a.m. on Wednesday (Philippine time) for the semifinals, where the top eight swimmers will advance to the finals. The championship round is slated on August 1 at 2:30 a.m.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News