Namibia has taken the early lead at the Africa Aquatics Zone IV Swimming Championships which started at the Olympia Swimming Pool on Wednesday.
After Wednesday’s events, Namibia were leading both the boys and girls categories, with 509 points in total, followed by Zimbabwe on 387 and South Africa on 361 points.
By the end of yesterday’s morning session Namibia had pushed their overall medal tally up to 36, consisting of eight gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze medals.
A total of eight records had also been established after yesterday’s morning session.
On Wednesday, six records were broken with Namibia’s Roselinde Matyayi and Madison Bergh amongst the record breakers.
Bergh set a new record of 9:53,77 in the Girls 15 and over 800m freestyle, while Matyayi set a new Girls 13/14 100m backstroke record of 1:08,90, breaking the previous mark of 1:09,08.
South African swimmers set the other four records.
Kellen Jones set a new record of 9:13,33 in the Boys 14 and under 800m freestyle; Scarlett le Roux set a record of 1:07,22 in the Girls 15-16 100m backstroke; the SA Girls 14 and under relay team set a 4x100m medley relay record of 4:43,77; and the SA Boys 14 and under relay team set a new 4x100m medley relay record of 4:21,81.
Yesterday morning two more records were established. Scarlett le Roux broke her second record in the Girls 15-16 200m backstroke with a time of 2:26,47, which beat the former mark of 2:27,64 that Namibia’s Tiana Esslinger set in 2020.
Heer Usadadiya of Uganda set a new Boys 15-16 200m backstroke record of 2:14,13, which broke the former record of 2:15,28 that Namibia’s Ronan Wantenaar set in 2017.
Namibia’s gold medallists on Wednesday were Matyayi, Bergh, Oelof Badenhorst, Lorenzo Esterhuizen and Reza Westerduin.
Badenhorst won the Boys 11-12 50m breaststroke in 38,39 seconds; Esterhuizen won the Boys 15/16 year 100m backstroke in 1:01,64; and Westerduin won the Girls 17-29 year 100m backstroke in 1:08,90.
Yesterday morning Badenhorst, Matyayi and Westerduin once again won gold medals to shift Namibia’s overall gold medal tally up to eight.
Badenhorst won gold in the Boys 11-12 200m breaststroke with a time of 3:01,63, while his compatriot Patrick Durand won silver in 3:07,17.
Matyayi won gold in the Girls 13-14 200m backstroke in 2:32,56, while compatriot Candice Rey won bronze in 2:45,55.
Westerduin won gold in the Girls 17-29 200m backstroke in 2:31,11, while compatriot Maja Brinkmann won silver in 2:32,37.
Namibia’s other silver medallists yesterday morning were Patrick Durand with a time of 3:07,17 in the Boys 11-12 200m breaststroke; Vitoria de Sousa with a time of 2:55,07 in the Girls 13-14 200m backstroke; Ariana Naukosho with a time of 2:55,11 in the Girls 17-29 200m breaststroke; Oelof Badenhorst with a time of 2:47,86 in the Boys 11-12 200m backstroke; Madison Bergh with a time of 2:30,71 in the Girls 15-16 200m backstroke; Lorenzo Esterhuizen with a time of 2:16,27 in the Boys 15-16 200m backstroke; Maja Brinkmann with a time of 2:32,37 in the Girls 17-29 200m backstroke; and Arkell Wellmann with a time of 2:19,55 in the Boys 17-29 200m backstroke.
Namibia’s bronze medallists yesterday morning were Carissa Steyn with a time of 3:01,51 in the Girls 13-14 200m backstroke; Arkell Wellmann with a time of 2:39,27 in the Boys 17-29 200m breaststroke; Aiden Diehl with a time of 2:48,54 in the Boys 11-12 200m backstroke; Rodney Feris with a time of 2:27,74 in the Boys 13-14 200m backstroke; Mikayla Geyser with a time of 2:34,47 in the Girls 15-16 200m backstroke; Luke Beukes with a time of 2:16,60 in the Boys 15-16 200m backstroke; and Robin Engelhard with a time of 2:23,45 in the Boys 17-29 200m backstroke.
