At A Glance
- The Philippines stumbled on the opening day of the swimming competitions at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships after it failed to advance to the next round on two events on Sunday, Feb. 11, in Doha, Qatar.
The Philippines stumbled on the opening day of the swimming competitions at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships after it failed to advance to the next round on two events on Sunday, Feb. 11, in Doha, Qatar.

National record-holder Jarod Hatch took the first plunge but fell short in the men’s 50-meter butterfly preliminaries by finishing 30th overall among 67 competitors.
He timed 24.13 seconds behind Top 3 qualifiers Nyls Korstanje of the Netherlands, who clocked 23.02sec, and American Michael Andrew (23.03sec) and Australian Isaac Cooper (23.15sec).
Though Hatch was the third-best Asian in the event behind Korean Baek Inchul (23.34sec) and Singaporean Teong Tzen Wei (23.53sec), his record was below his own Philippine mark of 23.89sec he established at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last year.
Only the Top 15 swimmers advanced to semifinals set Monday, Feb. 12.
The team of Kayla Sanchez, Jasmine Alkhaldi, Xiandi Chua and Teia Salvino also fell short in their women’s 4x100m freestyle relay campaign after managing 12th among 14 teams.
The squad registered 3 minutes and 46.93sec -- four seconds slower than eighth-place qualifier Slovenia, who posted 3:42.11.
Their time was also two seconds slower than their national mark of 3:44.31 they set at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last September.
Australia led the final qualifiers with 3:38.33, followed by Italy (3:39.20) and Canada (3:39.75).
The PH team’s bid continues on Monday when Thanya Dela Cruz barges into action in the women’s 100m breaststroke, Jerard Jacinto in the men’s 100m backstroke and Salvino in the women’s 100m back.
The tournament, which is a venue for athletes to qualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics, will run until Feb. 19.