Windhoek
Excitement is building for the Bank Windhoek Namibia National Swimming Championship which starts tomorrow (17h00) till Sunday at the Olympia municipal swimming pool in Windhoek.
The competition gets underway with the long distances such as 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 800m freestyle (women) and 1 500m freestyle (men).
Friday’s sessions start at 15h00 with the 50m butterfly, 400m freestyle, 9-10 year- old 100m breaststroke, open 200m breaststroke and all the 100m backstroke. One of the most exciting events is the 200m freestyle open relay which will be the last event on Friday.
The official opening ceremony will be on Saturday at 08h00 and the first event is slated for 08h30 which will be the 50m breaststroke, followed by the 200m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.
During the afternoon session at 14h00 the 50m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and lots of exciting relays will take centre stage.
Sunday morning starts at 08h20 with the 50m freestyle followed by the 200m individual medley. The rest of the morning will be dedicated to relays.
“We are looking forward to some great action from our senior swimmers as well as our juniors. An average of 145 swimmers will take part, with 1 321 individual splashes ahead of them,” said Bettina Steffen, president of the Namibia Swimming Union (NASU).
Swimmers to watch out for are Daniela Lindemeier, Philip Seidler and Alexander Skinner, as well as juniors Corne le Roux, Ronan Wantenaar, Heleni Stergiadis, Joanne Liebenberg and Mikah Burger.
“We wish the swimmers best of luck in their efforts to always improve. Please come support and cheer our swimmers at this prestigious event. NASU would also like to thank Bank Windhoek for their continuous sponsorship during the long course swimming season,” Steffen said.
In October 2015, Bank Windhoek sponsored NASU with N$110 000 to host the Long Course Swimming Series and Championship with the ultimate goal of developing the sport and groom swimming athletes to compete at national and international level. The final long course event takes place on April 1.