SA swim team up medals tally to 59
THERE was another proudly South African day for the national swimming team, as they raised their medal tally to 59 in the Cana African Swimming Championships at the Stadium Swimming Pool in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Leading the troop was 16-year-old Mariella Venter, who took more than a second off Mandy Loots’s 2010 championship record in the 200m backstroke.
Venter touched the wall in a golden 2:14.33, ahead of teammate Nathania van Niekerk (2:15.49) and the Seychelles’ Alexus Laird (2:22.67).
Venter and Van Niekerk were also a part of the 4x100m medley relay team alongside Kaylene Corbett and Gabi Grobler, and made the top of the medal podium in 4:18.92, ahead of Egypt in 4:21.71 and Algeria in 4:38.26.
Jarryd Baxter and Neil Fair followed with gold and silver in the 200m individual medley in 2:04.68 and 2:05.37 respectively, while Egypt’s Mohamed Samy claimed the bronze in 2:08.22.
In the women’s 1 500m freestyle race, Charlise Oberholzer and Michelle Weber took gold and bronze in 17:20.44 and 17:55.43, while Algeria’s Souad Nefissa Cheroua claimed the silver in 17:44.35.
During the morning heats session, Douglas Erasmus broke the 2006 championship record in the 50m freestyle in 22.50 but that time was bettered in the evening finals by Algeria’s Oussama Sahnoune, who won the gold in 22.30.
Erasmus had to settle for the silver in 22.55. Egypt’s Samy won his second bronze of the evening in 23.08.
The 200m butterfly title was claimed by Algeria’s Sarah Hadj Abderrahma in 2:15.46. Silver and bronze went to Egypt’s Mariam Sakr and Rowaida Hesham in 2:18.88 and 2:20.00 respectively.
Jacques van Wyk, Port Elizabeth twins Alaric and Alard Basson, and Calvyn Justus closed the sixth day of the competition by winning the 4x100m medley relay, clocking 3:44.60. Egypt and Morocco won silver and bronze in 3:51.91 and 3:38.31 respectively.