Guys back in December 2025 I faced a huge setback as I raced the 200m butterfly and got a disqualification for a rule I didn’t even know about at the time:

The rule was that I’m not allowed to be fully submerged underwater during the pull in butterfly past the 15m mark and i ended up violating this rule just because of my relaxed pacing being wrong as I was deliberately pausing during the stroke and that caused this full body submersion you see but I did learn that when my arms enter the water I need to pull immediately but however at relaxed 200 pace with butterfly you are supposed to pull immediately as your arms enter and the pull is just slightly longer.

Another mistake I made with the timing was also my breath as my head came down after my arms exited the water causing me to muscle my way through the stroke which made me fatigue even more but i learned that the head should come down right before the arms exit the water to allow a clean recovery over the water.

And I came back on December 31st to correct this problem and I really started to develop even more during the races I did at the start of this incredible year cos on January 4th I won my first ever career medals in the 200m freestyle (bronze) and 100m backstroke (silver) and then went on to win another bronze at the 200m IM and then during training I corrected my fly timing and then during the final rep of the 4x100s of fly I just pulled immediately as my arms entered then suddenly my breath timing happened naturally and on time and my head went down before arms recovered over the water so I could maintain a clean recovery under huge lactate and I’m going to comeback and race the 200m butterfly again.

And I did feel crushed and depressed over Christmas because of that disqualification I even had thoughts of taking my own life by racing the 200m butterfly over and over again in a row in the exact same arena until I lose my life and you see I felt super desperate to race the event again and ironically I did fall in love with the event after I raced it yes even though my heart got shattered but it revealed the diamond within my heart you see and I got so much drive to comeback from that setback and learned that having this drive for wanting to be the best at what I’m doing isn’t ego it’s direction but again I still don’t chase medals and times and I’m not hostile towards opponents and I compete with not against others.

So guys when you are passionate about something you will naturally keep going even if you feel down cos that’s what real self belief is.

My 200m butterfly setback