Cyprianos qualifies for World Swimming Juniors
UP-AND-COMING swimming star, Denilson Cyprianos’ record breaking exploits at the Africa Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games held in Botswana have seen him qualify for the FINA World Junior Championships scheduled for Hungary next year.
Cyprianos ended the season on a high setting two national records when he clinched three individual bronze medals and four team medals at the eighth edition of the regional games held in Gaborone.
The Christian Brothers College pupil (16) broke the Zimbabwe records in the 200m backstroke, which he swam in two minutes 09.46 seconds to beat the old time of two minutes 10.40 seconds set by Brendon Ashby in July 2003.
Cyprianos also set a new national record of 28,49 seconds in the 50m backstroke beating Peter Weslers’ time of 28,59 seconds set in 2013.
He underlined his dominance in the backstroke with another fine performance in the 100m event as he came third in a time of one minute 01,65 seconds to complete his individual medal haul.
His record times saw him qualify for the junior championships that are scheduled for Budapest in August.
Despite having had to take some time away from the pool to focus on his ordinary level exams, Cyprianos managed to continue shining in the sport as he broke Angus Findlay’s 1994 record in the 1500m freestyle record completing the race 17 minutes 39,43 seconds at the Matabeleland Championships that were held at the beginning of the year.
Cyprianos’ coach and father, Edmore said they were elated about the qualification and will take time to ensure he is prepared for the event.
“There is a lot of time between now and the event so we are going to be working hard to ensure he goes to the event prepared and ready to take on swimmers from other parts of the world.
“This is a great feat for him and it caps a fine year that has seen him steadily improve and break several records. He has cemented his dominance of the backstroke and we are certainly going to work on his time and getting better,” he said.
Cyprianos’ qualification for the event will put him in the international limelight and improve his chances of securing a swimming scholarship in the United States.
ZSBC chairperson, Tracey Doorman said Donata Katai was the first swimmer to meet the qualifying times for Budapest 2019 and expect more swimmers to qualify for the championships as there are more events before the cut-off date.
“We are having the National Swimming Championships early next year and there are also several events in South Africa, which are recognised by FINA and swimmers can attain times there,” she said.
Meanwhile, Doorman was happy with the swimming team’s performance in Botswana adding they outdid themselves as they clinched 18 medals, 16 bronze and two silver.
Paige van der Westhuizen (15) led the pack with five individual medals taking bronze in 100m breaststroke (1:20.70), 200m freestyle (2:10.17), 50m breaststroke (36.60), 100m freestyle (1:00.36) and 50m freestyle in 27.40 seconds.
Liam O’Hara (17) took three bronze medals in the breaststroke events, coming third in the 50m in 30,05 seconds while in the 100m he clocked one minute 05,93 seconds while in the 200m race he touched the pad in a time of two minutes 26,17 seconds.
The rest of the medals came from the relay events with the boys team that has Cyrpianos, O’Hara, Dale Bruce (18) and Ayman Khatoun (18) clinching bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay, a silver in the 4x100 medley relay and another bronze in the 4x50m freestyle relay.
The ladies relay team made up of van der Westhuizen, Courtney Brown (16), Nomvula Mjimba (16) and Nyasha Mukonoweshuro (18) won a silver in the 4x50m relay, a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay and 4x100m freestyle relay while the mixed team that had van der Westhuizen, Brown, Cyprianos and O’Hara clinched a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.