Namibian swimmer Jonay Briedenhann qualified for the finals of the women’s 100m freestyle event at the All Africa Games (AAG) with a new personal best time of 1:01,08. She finished fourth in her heat and eighth overall, and broke her previous best time of 1:01,94 in the process. Briedenhann will also participate in the women’s 400m Individual Medley final, which didn’t have any heats. “It was a great performance by Jonay and it is the most competitive time by a Namibian over the distance since the days of Monica Dahl,” he said. Two More Personal Best Times Briedenhann was the only Namibian swimmer to qualify for the finals, but two other Namibian swimmers set personal best times on the opening day. In the men’s 100m breaststroke, Quinton Delie came fourth in his heat in a new personal best time of 1:13,69, which was more than a second faster than his previous best time of 1:15,09. Stephan van Zijl also set a new personal best time of 1:18,99 in Heat 3 of the men’s 100m breaststroke, which was just over two seconds faster than his former best of 1:18,99. Delie also competed in the men’s 100m butterfly event, coming sixth in his heat in a time of 1:02,46. This was outside his personal best of 1:01,11, but considering that he swam this race just 10 minutes after his breaststroke event, it was still a good time. Alex Ray also competed in the men’s 100m butterfly event, coming fifth in his heat in a fast time of 59,70. In the men’s 400m freestyle, Tristan McDonald came fifth in Heat 2, and ninth overall in a time of 4:30,55, which was somewhat off his personal best time of 4:24,51. Corinna Wahl came fourth in Heat 2 of the women’s 100m freestyle in a time of 1:05,00. This was somewhat off her personal best time of 1:03,12, but Corinna is suffering from flu and was not at her best. Satisfactory Start Overall, it was a satisfactory start by Namibia to the swimming competition, according to Skinner. “Several swimmers improved on their personal bests, while they also improved upon their overall seedings. Considering that we had supper at midnight after a traffic jam and tight security from the Opening Ceremony of the All Africa Games, I think our swimmers have done very well,” he said. Spectacular Opening Meanwhile, the All Africa Games witnessed a spectacular opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Algiers on Wednesday evening. The stadium was packed with about 70 000 people cramming in to witness the opening of the ninth AAG. Earlier in the day, Namibia’s shottists, cyclists, wrestlers and chess players arrived in Algeria, and they joined Team Namibia in the march around the stadium. A total of 5 000 athletes representing more than 50 African nations took part in the march, raising lots of cheers among the spectators. When Algeria marched on last, the crowd went crazy and the cacophony was raised a few decibels more by a spectacular fireworks display. By now, Team Namibia had regrouped to board their bus, but we had to wait ages and when we finally made it on to the bus and through endless traffic jams, we arrived at the athletes village at about midnight. We still had to queue for supper in the dining room, and we only made it to bed at about 12h30.