How Singapore is 'home' for two swimmers representing Spain and Ireland at the World Aquatics Championships
Jack Cassin and Carmen Weiler Sastre spent large parts of their lives studying and training in a region far away from where they were born.
Ireland's Jack Cassin and Spain's Carmen Weiler Sastre at the World Aquatics Championships on Friday (Aug 1). (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
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SINGAPORE: For Spain's Carmen Weiler Sastre and Ireland's Jack Cassin, competing at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships has added significance.
It is in host country Singapore where the two swimmers spent much of their adolescent years; where they cultivated friendships; and where they built the foundation of their sporting careers.
To the pair, Singapore is special.
"I don't even think I can ... express or put into words how I feel after this," Cassin told CNA, referring to competing in Singapore.
He had just finished second in his heat of the men's 100m butterfly on Friday (Aug 1).
"It has so much more emotion and depth attached to it, than it would be for any other swimmer here, because this is the place that I used to call home. It definitely feels like being back home."
For Weiler Sastre, whose family moved to Singapore when she was just one, it was "surreal" to be back.
"It's really special for me to come back and compete in front of my friends and family," she told CNA.
"I really enjoyed growing up in Singapore ... I would say this is my home."
Cassin and Weiler Sastre have known each other over the years, having trained and studied together at the Canadian International School and then the Nexus International School.
'When he told me that he was going to Singapore for worlds, I was really excited," said Weiler Sastre, 20, who is Spain's national record holder in the 100m backstroke.
"We also went to the same place for a training camp in Malaysia in Kuching, so that was really cool to share that experience with him."
"I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING"
Both swimmers, who competed at the Singapore National Age Group Championships in the past, said the country has played a role in their growth as athletes.
Weiler Sastre, who now studies at Virginia Tech university, credited her former Nexus coach Ivan Bunakov with helping to shape the "trajectory" of her swimming.
"He taught me a lot about discipline ... and I really do think that helped me work hard in the US."
In the United States, Weiler Sastre now trains under Sergio Lopez, the former coach of Singapore's only Olympic champion Joseph Schooling.
"He's almost like a father figure to me. We're really close and he's helped me with a lot in the three years that I've been with him," said Weiler Sastre. "I think that he is one of the best coaches that there is."
Cassin, 21, moved to Singapore at the age of nine after his mother found a job here. He then lived in Singapore for almost a decade.
"It was definitely a big change (to come to Singapore) ... I never expected that I would be here for ten years," he said.
"I definitely wouldn't be at the level of swimming I'm at now if I had never took this opportunity," said Cassin, who is the Irish national record holder in the men's 400m individual medley.
"It's been such a good experience, I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Cassin said there was a "huge" difference in access to facilities in Singapore, compared with Ireland.
"Singapore is such a small country but you've so many pools ... Whereas other countries don't have that. In Ireland, we have two 50m pools and (the country) is 100 times the size of Singapore," he added.
"In international schools, you have the pool and it's right next to the school, so it's just the convenience of it as well. It makes such a difference."
Cassin will take to the pool again for the 4x100m medley relay on Sunday, the final day of competition.
"I love it here, it's so nice being back," he said. "I wish I could stay longer."
