Namibian swimmers excelled on the first day of the Cana Zone 4 Swimming Championships in Luanda, Angola to lead the log after the first day’s competition.
Competing against nine other nations from Southern Africa, Namibia were comfortably ahead on the log with a total of 24 medals consisting of nine gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals.
The host nation Angola were lying second with four gold, five silver and five bronze medals (14 in total), while Mozambique were lying third with four gold, two silver and two bronze medals (eight in total).
They were followed by South Africa with three gold, six silver and four bronze medals (13 in total) and Zambia with two gold, three silver and three bronze medals (eight in total).
Oliver Durand excelled in the boys 15-16 year category, winning two gold and one silver medal.
He won gold in the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:02,31 and the 800m freestyle in a time of 8:45,89, and silver in the 50m breaststroke in 31,55 seconds.
Durand’s winning 800m time shattered his own national age group record of 9:06,48 by more than 20 seconds.
Durand also formed part of the Namibian relay team that won a bronze medal in the men’s 15-29 100m relay in a time of 4:07,83. The other members were Christopher de Jager, Marco Henning and Robin Engelhard.
Other Namibian gold medallists amongst the boys were Kabelo Hekandjo who won the 11-12 year 100m backstroke in a time of 1:17,59, and Lorenzo Esterhuizen who won the 13-14 year 100m backstroke in 1:05,42.
In the female events, Ainoa Naukosho and Roselinde Matyayi excelled in the girls 11-12 year old age group category.
Naukosho won a gold medal in the 800m freestyle in a time of 10:10,10 and a silver medal in the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:15,44, while Matyayi won gold in the 100m backstroke in 1:09,60 and bronze in the 50m breaststroke in 40,61 seconds.
Naukosho’s winning time in the 800m freestyle also broke the Namibian age group record that had stood for nine years.
Naukosho and Matyayi formed part of the Namibian 4x100m relay team that narrowly came second behind South Africa in the Girls 14 and younger event, with SA taking gold in 5:01,33 and Namibia silver in 5:01,79.
The other members of the Namibian relay team were Madison Bergh and Mikayla Geyser.
Jessica Humphrey excelled in the girls 15-16 year age group category, winning gold in the100m backstroke in a time of 1:08,30, while she also formed part of the Namibian relay team that won the women’s 15-29 race in a time of 4:45,77. The other members were Lisa Engelhard, Maya Stange and Trisha Mutumbulua.
Namibia’s medallists in the freestyle events were Naukosho, Durand and Nico Esslinger, and in the breaststroke were Durand, Matyayi, Liam Kinnaird and Maya Stange.
Namibia’s backstroke medallists were Durand, Matyayi, Naukosho, Kabelo Hekandjo, Mikayla Geyser, Madison Bergh, Lorenzo Esterhuizen, Liam Kinnaird, Jessica Humphrey, Maja Brinkmann, Robin Engelhard, Maya Stange, Brave Magongo, and Arkell Wellmann.
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