The life of a 10-year-old...Saturday morning cartoons, an oversized bowl of Fruity Pebbles and not a care in the world. Or, in Alzain Tareq's case, the burden of becoming the youngest competitor to ever race at the FINA World Swimming Championships.
The Bahrain native participated in the heats of the 50-meter butterfly event in Kazan, Russia on Friday. Despite posting a time of 41.13 seconds—just shy of her personal record—Tareq was the slowest of all 64 competitors.
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That, however, was not enough to deter her spirits.
"I'm very happy," Tareq told reports afterwards, per Eurosport. "It was fun. Now I want to lower my mark in the 50-meter freestyle."
It should be of note that even though Tareq was the slowest in a pool of 64, she was the fastest in a nation of 1.3 million people, earning her the right to line up in the sport's biggest event outside of the Olympics.
That fact alone was enough to leave Fran Halsall bewildered. The senior medalist winner at the British Championships moved into the semifinals with the fifth fastest time on Friday, but still took the time to comment on her counterpart's accomplishment.
"I don't know what to make of it to be honest," Halsall said, per The Guardian. "She is dinky. I was like 'what?' I didn't even notice there was someone in the lane. Bless her, good on her, just have a pop, why not?"
"If that's what she wants to do compete, then fair play. Have a go."
Tareq will have an additional go on Saturday, where she'll be participating in the 50-meter freestyle heats.
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