Ali Thameem
Over the past 14 months, national swimming athlete Aishath Ulya Shaiq had broken several national records across multiple international championships.
The 22-year-old currently holds individual national records in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 50m backstroke. Additionally, she shares two relay records with the women’s national team—set in Nepal in 2019—and was part of the national team which broke records in the Mixed Medley Relay (4x100m) and Mixed Freestyle Relay (4x100m).
All seven national records that Ulya currently hold are from long course events.
Individual National Records
100m Freestyle (Long Course)
Meet: West Coast Club Night 05, UWSC, Melbourne, Australia
Elapsed Time: 1:04.32
Improvement: 0.71 seconds from the previous record (1:05.03).
The previous record holder was Amna Thazkiya Mirsaad, who broke it at the 2023 Junior National Long Course Swimming Championship in Sri Lanka. The 100m freestyle record is Ulya’s most recent achievement.
50m Backstroke (Long Course)
Meet: Swimming WA Hancock Prospecting State Championships
Elapsed Time: 34.18 seconds
Improvement: 0.14 seconds from the previous record (34.32 seconds), held by Aishath Saushan at the 11th Indian Ocean Island Games in 2023.
Ulya previously recorded 35.63 seconds in backstroke at the 2024 Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships on February 26.
50m Freestyle (Long Course)
Meet: 2024 World Aquatics Championships, Doha, Qatar
Elapsed Time: 28.64 seconds
Record History: First broken by Ulya in February 2024; she has since improved it twice.
The previous record of 29.62 seconds was held by Aminath Rooya Hussain for nearly 17 years before Ulya surpassed it, eventually lowering it by 0.98 seconds (980 milliseconds).
National Team Records
Mixed Medley Relay 4x100m (Long Course)
Meet: 2024 World Aquatics Championships, Doha
Elapsed Time: 4:41.83
Improvement: 6.68 seconds from the previous record (4:48.51), set at the 19th Asian Games.
Teammates: Hamna Ahmed, Mohamed Rihan, Mubal Azzam
In the relay, Ulya completed her 100m backstroke leg in 1:06.10, the second-fastest split in the Maldivian team behind Mohamed Rihan’s 1:01.39.
Mixed Freestyle Relay 4x100m (Long Course)
Meet: 2024 Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships
Elapsed Time: 4:12.35
Improvement: 1.82 seconds from the previous record.
Teammates: Aishath Aini, Mohamed Aan, Ali Imaan
The previous record was set at the World Aquatics Championships in Dubai by a team consisting of Hamna Ahmed, Mubal Azzam, Mohamed Rihan Shiham, and Ulya.
In addition to the two mixed-meet national records, Ulya also holds two national relay records in the Women’s Freestyle 4x100m and Women’s Medley 4x100m, both set in 2019 in Nepal and yet to be surpassed.
With these achievements, Ulya continues to shape Maldivian swimming history, consistently setting new national benchmarks in both individual and team events.
