In her first international senior appearance, Kierra Smith narrowly missed the podium at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 20-year-old Smith tied for fourth place Saturday in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke, finishing in 2:25.40, just 4/10 of a second out of the bronze medal position.
Smith was the top qualifier, coming off a lifetime best swim of 2:25.19 in the morning heats.
“The thing I wanted most from this meet was a second swim so I was so happy to be there and I tried to enjoy it as much as I could,” said Smith. “It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can compete with the girls here and I could belong at a senior meet which is exciting for me.
“Now my goal is to make finals at (next month’s Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia) and hopefully get into the 2:24 zone,” Smith added.
“That’s definitely been a dream of mine for a while now so I think that would be a great way to end the summer.”
In the 100 breaststroke, Smith also qualified for the finals on Monday where she finished in seventh overall, with a time of 1:08.83.
