Namibian swimmers in great form

NAMIBIAN swimmers were in great form at the Cana Zone 4 Championships on Monday, winning a total of 23 medals, to stay on the tail of leaders South Africa on the overall medal standings.

Namibia won seven gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals to take their overall tally to 37 medals, consisting of 11 gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze medals.

South Africa still lead the standings with 42 medals in total (17 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze), while Mauritius are third with 20 medals (seven gold, six silver and seven bronze).

Ronan Wantenaar was Namibia’s most successful swimmer on Monday, winning two gold medals in the Men’s 17 and over age group category.

He won the 200m breaststroke in 2:28,51, finishing ahead of Filipe Gomes of Malawi (2:29,75) and Adrian Robinson of Botswana (2:31,43), while he also won the 50m backstroke in 28,10 seconds, finishing ahead of Mathieu Bachmann of Seychelles (28,32) and Gregory Anodin of Mauritius (29,33).

Jose Canjulo won one gold and one silver medal in the Boys 13-14 age group category.

He won gold in the 200m freestyle in 2:03,37, followed by Leshen Pillay of South Africa (2:03,67) and Namibia’s Mikah Burger (2:10,66); and silver in the 50m butterfly in 27,80, finishing behind Victor Yong of Mauritius (27,78), while Burger came third in 27,91 seconds.

Besides his two bronze medals, Burger also won a gold medal in the 50m backstroke in a time of 29,98 seconds.

In the Boys 12 and under category, Oliver Durand won a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:59,00, finishing well ahead of compatriot Quinn Ellis (3:07,10) and Hugo L’Arrogant of Mauritius (3:08,55), while Zune Weber won gold in the Women’s 17 and over 50m backstroke in a time of 32,61, followed by compatriot Ju Ane Oberholzer (33,84) and Claire Melrose of Zimbabwe (34,61).

Namibia’s boys 14 and under relay team of Canjulo, Ellis, Burger and Christopher de Jager also won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle relay in a time of 4:00,25, followed by South Africa (4:08,09) and Mozambique (4:11,18).

Heleni Stergiadis won two silver medals in the Women’s 15-16 age group category.

She came second in the 200m freestyle in 2:13,21, with Paige van der Westhuizen of Zimbabwe winning gold in 2:10,60, while she also came second in the 200m breaststroke in 2:52,72, with Megan Shepherd of South Africa winning gold in 2:49,91.

Ariane Naukosho, Ju Ane Oberholzer, Danielle Mostert and Corne le Roux also won silver medals for Namibia; while Quinn Ellis (two), Weber and Vicky Botha won bronze medals, along with Namibia’s Girls 14 and Girls over 15 relay teams.

A total of six new Cana Zone 4 records were established on Monday.

In the Boys 12 and under 50m backstroke, Hugo L’Arrogant of Mauritius set a new time of 32,69 seconds, while Kelsea Munroe of South Africa set a new record time of 31,94 seconds in the Women’ 15-16 backstroke.

In the Boys 12 and under age group, Ivan Hart of Kenya broke two records. He set a new record of 2:17,54 in the 200m freestyle as well as a new record of 30,04 seconds in the 50m butterfly.

Lise Coetzee of South Africa set a new record of 2:10,21 in the Girls 13-14 200m freestyle, while Paige vd Westhuizen of Zimbabwe set a new record of 2:10,60 In the Women’s 15-16 200m freestyle.

The Cana Zone 4 Championships will conclude at the Olympia Pool on Wednesday.