Evans qualifies for the Olympics

Less than a week after coming close to swimming the ‘A’ standard for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in the 400 meters (m) freestyle, Bahamian swimmer Joanna Evans was able to go a bit faster in her next race and go under the standard.

She clocked 4:07.33 to dip under the 4:07.90 ‘A’ standard time and lower her own three-year national record of 4:07.60 which was done before the qualifying period. Evans was in action at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Center in Austin, Texas on Thursday – a facility she is comfortable with after training for four years there as a collegiate swimmer for the Texas Longhorns.

Prior to that qualifying swim, Evans swam 4:07.95 at the 2021 TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, Indiana.

She is the first Bahamian to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games in swimming at the ‘A’ standard. Evans spoke about how relieved she felt to finally qualify for the Olympics.

“Last week was exciting to be so close to the standard so it was a relief to finally get under the cut,” she said. “We didn’t really do much different this week. The main goal is the Olympics so we’ve been working toward swimming fast there but being as good as I can leading up to it. We have been working on race strategy for a while now, and every time I swim, it gets better. We are learning something every time.”

At the Longhorns Aquatics meet, Evans swam 4:12.19 in the preliminaries. Her 4:07.33 in the final placed her second overall. Winning the race was world record holder and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games gold medalist in that event, American Katie Ledecky, who swam 4:00.37.

Evans swam splits of 28.23, 30.49, 31.18, 31.35, 31.43, 31.87, 31.72 and 31.06 seconds. She executed well and finished strong to ensure that she qualified for the Olympics this time.

Finishing behind Evans was American Morgan Tankersley in a distant 4:14.87.

Since breaking the record, Evans has gotten a lot of support from Bahamians.

“So much of the excitement comes from the support of the Bahamians. I received so many messages from people who are excited and that makes me more excited,” Evans said.

In addition to the 400m free, Evans swam the 200m free at this meet. She went into the final after swimming 2:02.13 in the prelims. She placed ninth in the final with a swim of 2:00.11. Her splits were 27.99, 30.31, 30.93 and 30.88 seconds.

Evans will be looking to swim in the 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics as well. Her personal best in that event is 1:58.03 – a national record that she set back in 2018.

This will be the second Summer Olympic Games for the former University of Texas Longhorns swimmer. She was one of three Bahamians to qualify in swimming for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Dustin Tynes and Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace were the other two Bahamians. Evans swam in the 200, 400 and 800m free in that Olympic Games.

Looking to join Evans at the Olympics is Izaak Bastian who is also chasing an ‘A’ standard. He could compete at the Olympics via the universality rule which allows a country to enter one male and one female swimmer regardless of time. It is based on who has the highest FINA (International Swimming Federation) points when the qualifying period closes on June 27.

Bastian earned 806 points for his personal best and a national record swim of 2:16.07 in the 200m breaststroke at the Bahamas Aquatics Federation’s Last Chance Meet back in early March here in Nassau.

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