Swimmers produce mixed results

NAMIBIAN swimmers competing at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada, have produced mixed results at the event that kicked off two weeks ago.

The Namibians only started to compete in the swimming events on Sunday, with top Namibian swimmer Danielle van Zijl (19) producing the best performance as she won her 200-metre individual medley race. But the other two swimmers, Alex Ray and Jonay Briedenhann, struggled in their respective heats at the event that is hosting more than 200 swimmers from 160 nations.Van Zijl, possibly the strongest contender among the three Namibians representing the country, clocked 2 minutes, 30,61 seconds to finish first in her heat.She entered the race with a personal best time of 2 minutes 31,79 seconds, which she improved by 1,18 seconds.On Monday, van Zijl, who is a first-year student in Sport Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, improved her previous best time of 1 minute 16,64 seconds in the 100m breast stroke to 1 minute 15,93 seconds.Van Zijl is also competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events.Briedenhann (15), the youngest of the Namibian swimmers at the event, did not manage to improve her times.Her coach, Larry Laursen, ascribed this to ‘first-event jitters’.It is the first world championship event for Briedenhann, who is a pupil at St.Paul’s College in Windhoek.Briedenhann has entered for the 50m and 100m freestyle events as well as the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke.She will also compete in the 50m butterfly and the 200m individual medley at the even, which concludes this coming weekend.Ray, who turned 18 this year, entered the 50m butterfly with a time of 27.59 seconds, but ended in sixth position in his heat with a new personal best time of 27.07 seconds, an improvement of 0.52 seconds.Ray who is a matric pupil at the Pretoria High Performance Centre in South Africa, is also expected to compete in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.The Namibian swimmers had a rest day yesterday, and are expected back in the pool later today to compete in the rest of their items.But the other two swimmers, Alex Ray and Jonay Briedenhann, struggled in their respective heats at the event that is hosting more than 200 swimmers from 160 nations.Van Zijl, possibly the strongest contender among the three Namibians representing the country, clocked 2 minutes, 30,61 seconds to finish first in her heat.She entered the race with a personal best time of 2 minutes 31,79 seconds, which she improved by 1,18 seconds.On Monday, van Zijl, who is a first-year student in Sport Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, improved her previous best time of 1 minute 16,64 seconds in the 100m breast stroke to 1 minute 15,93 seconds.Van Zijl is also competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events.Briedenhann (15), the youngest of the Namibian swimmers at the event, did not manage to improve her times.Her coach, Larry Laursen, ascribed this to ‘first-event jitters’. It is the first world championship event for Briedenhann, who is a pupil at St.Paul’s College in Windhoek.Briedenhann has entered for the 50m and 100m freestyle events as well as the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke.She will also compete in the 50m butterfly and the 200m individual medley at the even, which concludes this coming weekend.Ray, who turned 18 this year, entered the 50m butterfly with a time of 27.59 seconds, but ended in sixth position in his heat with a new personal best time of 27.07 seconds, an improvement of 0.52 seconds.Ray who is a matric pupil at the Pretoria High Performance Centre in South Africa, is also expected to compete in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.The Namibian swimmers had a rest day yesterday, and are expected back in the pool later today to compete in the rest of their items.