National tryouts for swimming are expected to take place within the next five months.
Philippine Swimming, Inc. president Lailani Velasco said this upon returning to the Philippines from the Tokyo Olympics.
The tryouts to select members of the national team to the Southeast Asian Games will happen under a bubble setup.
“We are currently working on the national selection bubble. The current quarantine restrictions are definitely making it difficult for us and our swimmers, but we are determined to make it happen sometime later this year,” said Velasco.
Velasco said United States-based Fil-Am swimmer Jarod Hatch could make it to the national team.
Hatch established a new national mark during his stint in the Speedo Summer Championships last week in Irvine, California.
“Jarod is one of the potential participants for the coming SEA Games. He recently set a national mark in the Men’s 100m Butterfly and his time meets the criteria we’ve set for the SEA Games,” said Velasco.
The 22-year-old Hatch, a student at the University of California, clocked 53.06 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly as he settled for third place behind winner Trenton Julian and second-placer Justina Kozan.
“We will have to wait for the entire qualifying period to end and for candidates to properly submit their papers to be able to say who makes it to the lineup and who doesn’t. But he is definitely a strong candidate with his recent performance,” added Velasco.
Hatch surpassed the previous mark of 53.91 seconds he set during the Philips 66 National Championships in Stanford, California in Aug. 2019.
Hatch owns two national records, with the other one done during the 4×100-meter freestyle event of the 2019 SEA Games.
The mark of 3:22:32 is a record which Hatch shares with Tokyo Olympian Luke Gebbie, Maurice Ilustre and Jean-Pierre Khouzam during the country’s SEAG hosting in Capas, Tarlac.