Swimmers excel at top African competition

Namibia’s national swimming team produced its best-ever results at South Africa’s top Age Group gala, the Prestige Gala which was recently held in East London.

Swimming against the continent’s top junior swimmers, Christine Briedenhann won a gold and a silver medal and Daniela Lindemeier won a gold medal, while several other Namibians produced tremendous performances. Byron Briedenhann, Quinton Delie, Tristan McDonald and Max Siedentopf all produced tremendous performances to break through the magical 600 Fina point mark.In the Girls 15-year 200m breaststroke event, Lindemeier broke the Namibian record of 2:49,58 on two occasions.She came second in her heat in a time of 2:48,26 and then produced a stunning swim to win the final in a new record time of 2:43,45.This was the top performance by a Namibian at the event, giving her 682 Fina points, which also ensured that she qualified for the senior World Swimming Championships.In the Girls 12-year category Christine Briedenhann reached two finals, winning a gold and a silver medal.She won gold in the 50m freestyle in a time of 29,78 seconds, C Wahl record which was fractionally outside Corinna Wahl’s Namibian record of 29,75.In the 100m freestyle she won the silver medal to equal Monica Dahl’s Namibian record of 1:04,27.In the Boys 16-year category Byron Briedenhann set two new Namibian records and reached two finals.In the 200m backstroke he set a new record time of 2:18,17, coming fifth in the final, while he set a new Namibian record of 32,37 in the 50m breaststroke heats.He also reached the final of the 50m backstroke where he came eighth.Quinton Delie set three personal best times and reached one final in the Boys 16-year category.He reached the final of the 100m backstroke event where he came eighth in a time of 1:04,72, which was marginally outside his national record of 1:04,21.In the Boys’ 15-year category Tristan McDonald reached two finals and set three records.He came seventh in the 1500m freestyle final in a new record time of 17:16,50, which shattered his previous record of 17:55,65.In the 200m backstroke he also came seventh in a new record time of 2:18,90.McDonald also broke the 400m freestyle record of 4:26,08 with a new time of 4:22,22.In the Boys’ 16-year category, Max Siedentopf reached one final, finishing fifth in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:30,40, which gave him 649 FINA points.This was one hundredth of a second off qualifying for the World Senior Championships.In the Boys’ 14-year category JP Engelbrecht competed in eight events but did not reach any finals.SA LEVEL TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS Katja Laborn and Christiaan van der Heever were Namibia’s top swimmers at the Telkom SA Level 2 Championships which took place in Germiston last weekend.In the Boys’ 14-year category Van der Heever won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 35,06 seconds.He also reached the final of the 100m breaststroke where he finished eighth.The 15-year-old Laborn reached seven finals, wining a silver and a bronze medal.She won silver in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2:47,66, while she won bronze in the 400m freestyle event in a time of 5:06,19.The 11-year-old Jean Paul Burger reached three finals, while 12-year-old Keelan Moodley reached two finals.Namibia’s other swimmers at the Level 2 Championships were Drikus Coetzee, Fred Mudge, Jaco Hendrik Oosthuizen and Sebastian Pahl.www.namibiasport.com.naByron Briedenhann, Quinton Delie, Tristan McDonald and Max Siedentopf all produced tremendous performances to break through the magical 600 Fina point mark.In the Girls 15-year 200m breaststroke event, Lindemeier broke the Namibian record of 2:49,58 on two occasions.She came second in her heat in a time of 2:48,26 and then produced a stunning swim to win the final in a new record time of 2:43,45.This was the top performance by a Namibian at the event, giving her 682 Fina points, which also ensured that she qualified for the senior World Swimming Championships.In the Girls 12-year category Christine Briedenhann reached two finals, winning a gold and a silver medal.She won gold in the 50m freestyle in a time of 29,78 seconds, C Wahl record which was fractionally outside Corinna Wahl’s Namibian record of 29,75.In the 100m freestyle she won the silver medal to equal Monica Dahl’s Namibian record of 1:04,27.In the Boys 16-year category Byron Briedenhann set two new Namibian records and reached two finals.In the 200m backstroke he set a new record time of 2:18,17, coming fifth in the final, while he set a new Namibian record of 32,37 in the 50m breaststroke heats.He also reached the final of the 50m backstroke where he came eighth.Quinton Delie set three personal best times and reached one final in the Boys 16-year category.He reached the final of the 100m backstroke event where he came eighth in a time of 1:04,72, which was marginally outside his national record of 1:04,21.In the Boys’ 15-year category Tristan McDonald reached two finals and set three records.He came seventh in the 1500m freestyle final in a new record time of 17:16,50, which shattered his previous record of 17:55,65.In the 200m backstroke he also came seventh in a new record time of 2:18,90.McDonald also broke the 400m freestyle record of 4:26,08 with a new time of 4:22,22.In the Boys’ 16-year category, Max Siedentopf reached one final, finishing fifth in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:30,40, which gave him 649 FINA points.This was one hundredth of a second off qualifying for the World Senior Championships.In the Boys’ 14-year category JP Engelbrecht competed in eight events but did not reach any finals.SA LEVEL TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS Katja Laborn and Christiaan van der Heever were Namibia’s top swimmers at the Telkom SA Level 2 Championships which took place in Germiston last weekend.In the Boys’ 14-year category Van der Heever won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 35,06 seconds.He also reached the final of the 100m breaststroke where he finished eighth.The 15-year-old Laborn reached seven finals, wining a silver and a bronze medal.She won silver in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2:47,66, while she won bronze in the 400m freestyle event in a time of 5:06,19.The 11-year-old Jean Paul Burger reached three finals, while 12-year-old Keelan Moodley reached two finals.Namibia’s other swimmers at the Level 2 Championships were Drikus Coetzee, Fred Mudge, Jaco Hendrik Oosthuizen and Sebastian Pahl.www.namibiasport.com.na