GABORONE – A total of nine old championship records were tumbled during day two of the swimming programme at the AUCS Region 5 U20 Youth Games in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sunday.
The Namibian quartet of Heleni Stergiadis, Ju-Ane Oberholzer, Tiana Esslinger and Zune Weber clocked 4:16.75 to claim bronze medal 4×1000 women freestyle relay behind their South African counterparts comprising of Kerryn Herbst, Inge Weidemann, Olivia Nel and Georgia Nel.
The latter tumbled the old record setting a time of 3:57.69 with Zimbabwe’s Brown, Nyasha Mukonoweshuro, Nomvula Mjimba and Van der Westhuizen adrift in 3rd in 4:20.45.
South Africa’s Dune Coetzee added another gold medal to her tally, this time in the women’s 200m butterfly with a new championship record time of 2:18.10, shedding over 4secs from Hanim Abrahams’ 2016 time of 2:22.26.
He was tailed by compatriot Trinity Hearne (15) in 2:23.56 and Angola’s Lia Lima adrift in 3rd place (17) in 2:26.71. Coetzee was also part of the gold winning 4 x 100m mixed medley relay team, anchored by Jack Oliver, Michael Houlie and Aimee Canny.
The quartet topped the medal podium in a new championship record time of 4:03.97 ahead of Angola’s Catarina Sousa, Daniel Francisco, Lima and Henrique Mascarenhas in 4:21.23 while Zimbabwe’s Denilson Cyprianos, Liam O’Hara, Paige Van der Westhuizen and Courtney Brown in 4:28.25 picked up the pieces for 3rd spot.
During the morning session in the heats, SA’s Canny was in top form finishing the 100m freestyle race with a new record time of 56.64 but only managed 56.81 in the finals, winning a gold medal ahead of fellow country woman Olivia Nel in 57.62 and Zimbabwe’s Van der Westhuizen in 1:00.36. Van der Westhuizen also made her way to the medal podium in the 50m breaststroke claiming the bronze in 36.60, behind compatriots Lara van Niekerk and Christin Mundell in 32.29 and 32.94, respectively, while Van Niekerk also stroke her way to a new record in the event during the morning heats, touching the wall in 31.93.
SA’s Houlie also clocked a new record in the morning heats of the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:02.09, but was a few seconds slower in the evening finals – finishing with the gold in 1:02.47.
Botswana’s Adrian Robinson on 1:05.27 followed in 2nd place with Zimbabwe’s O’Hara in 3rd clocking 1:05.93.
South Africa’s Calvin Coetzee won the men’s 200m freestyle in 1:53.95, with teammate Louw Oberholzer in hot pursuit to claim the silver medal in 1:54.35 – leaving the host nation’s James Freeman to be satisfied with the bronze medal in 1:54.50.
The pair of Coetzee and Oberholzer also raced the 4 x 100m men’s freestyle relay alongside Gawie Nortjie and Matthew Bosch and claimed the gold setting a new record time of 3:27.21.
Botswana’s Freeman, Robinson, Ayaan Chand and Andile Bekker finished second in 3:43.40 with Zimbabwean quartet of Ayman Khatoun, Cyprianos, O’Hara and Dale Bruce 3rd in 3:47.29.
SA’s Kerryn Herbst and Megan Tully grabbed the gold and silver in the women’s 100m backstroke in 1:06.10 and 1:06.18, respectively, while the bronze went to Zambia’s Mia Phiri in 1:08.54. SA’s Ethan du Preez bettered his record-breaking performance from the morning heats session from 2:02.26 to 2:01.17 in the men’s 200m butterfly.
SA’s Ruan Breytenbach finished with the silver in 2:05.62 and Namibia’s Corne le Roux with the bronze in 2:14.39, while in the men’s 50m butterfly it was the South African pair of Riccardo di Domenico and Henju Duvenhage that claimed gold and silver in 25.31 and 25.39 respectively, while Angola’s Daniel Francisco ended 3rd in 26.02.
The evening finished on a high note for the South African 4 x 100m mixed freestyle relay team, as the quartet bagged another gold medal in a new record time of 3:42.78 ahead of Botswana in 3:57.31 and Angola in 3:57.83 in that sequence. The AUSC Region 5 U20 Youth Games continued yesterday.
Swimming Medal rankings (after day 2):
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
South Africa 18 12 0 30
Botswana 0 4 2 6
Angola 0 1 4 5
Zimbabwe 0 0 10 10
Namibia 0 0 2 2
Zambia 0 0 1 1