The South African Open Water swimming team dominated the second day of the CANA Zone IV Championships
In the men’s 14-15 age group 5km event, Dennis de Villiers, Connor Albertyn and Alex Wehmeyer walked away with the gold, silver and bronze in 01:04:28, 01:04:29 and 01:15.52 respectively, while on the ladies’ side Leigh McMorran (01:04:23) and Catherine van Rensburg (01:05:20) were the gold and silver duo, while the bronze was claimed by Kenya’s Nurayn Bagha in 01:28:43.
Albertyn went one better and won the gold in the 3km race in 00:40:38 ahead of De Villiers in 00:41:33, with the bronze going to the Seychelles’ Alain Vidot in 00:44:12, while on the ladies’ side, Van Rensburg grabbed the gold in 00:41:39 ahead of McMorran in 00:41:55 and Zimbabwe’s Ella Allardice managed the bronze in 00:47:13.
The South Africans continued to dominate as Flippie van der Spuy, Zac Ellis and Muhammad Adam scooped the top three spots in the 16-18 age group 5km race in 01:02:53, 01:04:24 and 01:04:26, respectively, while Stephanie Houtman (01:04:41) and Tasneem Ebrahim (01:11:12) won the gold and silver in the ladies’ event, with the bronze going to Namibia’s Joanne Liebenberg in 01:13:20.
Van der Spuy (00:40:57) and Ellis (00:41:34) also won the gold and silver in their respective 3km race with Namibia’s Matthew Gertze finishing off the medal podium in 00:46:07, while Houtman (00:40:40) and Ebrahim (00:44:55) also made it double in the 3km, with Zimbabwe’s Gemma Schonken winning the bronze in 00:48:26.
Refiloe Mashao won the gold in the 19 and over 5km race in 01:04:25 with Namibia’s Paddy Murphy a close second in 01:20:26, while Mashao also claimed the gold in the 3km event in 00:40:42, ahead of Namibia’s Jureck Johannesson in 00:48:23.
In the 12-13 age group 3km, Connor Jay was victorious in 00:46:17 with team-mate Tiara Finnis winning the ladies’ race in 00:49:02.
The swimming programme resumes tomorrow with the morning session starting at 09h00 and the afternoon session at 15h00, while the Water Polo Championships will kick off at the Katutura/Western Suburbs Swimming Pool from 10h00.
Medal rankings (after day 2):
|
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
South Africa |
19 |
16 |
5 |
40 |
|
Namibia |
4 |
8 |
6 |
18 |
|
Zimbabwe |
3 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
|
Botswana |
2 |
3 |
3 |
8 |
|
Mauritius |
2 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
|
Seychelles |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
|
Angola |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Zambia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Kenya |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Mozambique |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Uganda |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Malawi |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Swimming South Africa
011 404 2480
Swimming South Africa is the governing body of aquatics in South Africa.
Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in South Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to South Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level. Swimming South Africa is kindly supported by SASCOC, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Arena, Sport & Recreation SA and Rand Water.