South African swimmers confirm continental dominance in Ghana

Once again it was the SA women who were in dominant form, responsible for all three.

Rebecca Meder claimed her sixth individual gold of the championships with victory in the 200m backstroke. The 19-year-old took the title in 2:16.74 with compatriot Samantha Randle earning the silver in 2:17.21.

Lizanne Viljoen was the other South African to top the podium on the final day of pool action, claiming gold in the 200m butterfly in 2:19.35.

Elsewhere, 18-year-old Guy Brooks, who has impressed in the junior section of the competition, claimed silver in the senior 50m freestyle, finishing in 22.60. Egypt’s Ali Khalfalla took the gold in 22.48.

Meanwhile, Meder was later in action with the women’s 4x100m medley relay team alongside Emily Visagie, Inge Weidemann and Hannah Robertson. The quartet claimed gold in 4:16.22, over three seconds ahead of Egypt to complete the South African women’s clean sweep of the relay events. That meant Meder left Ghana with an impressive total of 11 gold medals.

The men’s medley relay team of Martin Binedell, Bailey Musgrave, Guy Brooks and Clayton Jimmie wrapped things up for the SA team with another silver. They finished in 3:45.80 as the Egyptian quartet powered to victory in a championship record time of 3:41.70.

As the pool events came to an end, the South African women completely dominated on the team rankings table, finishing with a total of 377 points to second-placed Egypt’s 212. The SA men fell just short of the Egyptians’ total. But the combined team scores saw South Africa finishing on top with 685 points while Egypt were second on 537 and Angola some way back in third with 143 points.

ENDS

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