The South African swimming team won 7 medals during the opening day of the 13th CANA Swimming and Open Water Championships
Erin Gallagher blew away the opposition in the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
She secured Mzansi’s first gold medal in the 100m freestyle with a time of 54.79, over 2secs ahead of Egypt’s Farida Osman in 56.80 and Algeria’s Medjahed Nesrine in 58.09 and later in the finals went on to break Chanelle van Wyk’s Championship Record in the 50m backstroke.
Van Wyk’s time stood at 29.31, with Gallagher winning the gold in a new Championship record time of 29.04 ahead of Egypt’s Samiha Mohsen in 29.51 and Algeria’s Melih Amel in 29.67.
Gallagher was also a part of the 4x200m freestyle relay team alongside Jessica Whelan, Janie Coetzee and Tori Oliver, which scooped the gold in 8:29.89 ahead of Tunisia in 9:05.40.
In the 400m individual medley, Samantha Randle and Whelan were the silver and bronze duo, clocking 4:59.75 and 5:00.66, respectively, while the gold went to Algeria’s Nefsi Rania Hamida in 4:56.96.
Alaric Basson shared the silver medal with Egypt’s Youssef Elkamash when they both touched the wall in 1:01.54 in the 100m breaststroke, while the first place was claimed by Tunisia’s Elloumi Wassim in 1:01.26.
South Africa’s third silver medal came from Jacques van Wyk in the 50m backstroke when he clocked 25.90 behind Egypt’s Mohamed Samy in 25.49 and ahead of Algeria’s Ardjoune Abdellah in 26.54.
Medal rankings (after day 1):
|
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
South Africa |
3 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
|
Egypt |
2 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
|
Tunisia |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Algeria |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Swimming South Africa
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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.