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Home / Records broken at national swimming championships
Records broken at national swimming championships
2018-02-28Staff Report 2 Staff Reporter Windhoek-This past weekend saw several records broken at the Bank Windhoek National Swimming Championships held in Windhoek. The much-anticipated swimming tournament saw 164 swimmers participate in 1, 423 events over four days and concluded with a prize-giving ceremony at the Olympia swimming pool in Windhoek on Sunday. This year, records were smashed in the 200m relay events. Nico Esslinger, Quinn Ellis, Oliver Ohm and José Canjulo, broke the 200m freestyle relay in a time of 2:03.19. The previous record was set six years ago and stood at 2:07.23. Daniel Lasso-Drews, Quinn Ellis, Oliver Ohm and Jose Canjulo broke another record in the 200m medley relay in a time of 2:23.32. The previous record stood at 2:27.52 and was set three years ago. Victoria Ellmies and Heleni Stergiadis share the Single Best Performance Trophy. Ellmies was awarded the trophy for her 200m freestyle and Heleni Stergiadis for the 200m medley with each swimmer having accrued 589 International Swimming Federation (FINA) points. “It is an honour to win this award. I would like to thank my coach, parents and all my teammates for encouraging and supporting me all the way,” said Ellmies. Stergiadis was also thankful and could not hide her excitement. “I am so proud of myself. We have been practising really hard for the past few weeks and it paid off. Thanks to my dad and coach for motivating me to keep on swimming and thank God for keeping the light in my life,” said Stergiadis. The Single Best Performance Trophy is awarded to swimmers that achieve the highest number of FINA points in one single event during the championships. This is the same trophy won by Monica Dahl in 1988. Dahl is one of the first Namibian swimmers to compete at the Summer Olympics. She represented Namibia at the 1992 and the 1996 Games. “Thank you Bank Windhoek for your continued support. This has allowed us to have our yearly National Long Course Championships. We are very happy with the results achieved by the swimmers considering the fact that they are not fully tapered. They are in the midst of preparing for the upcoming international meets including the African Swimming Confederation (CANA) Zone 4 in Malawi and the South African Junior Nationals slated to take place next month,” said Namibia Swimming Union’s (NASU) spokesperson Jurie Badenhorst. “What we have seen over the past few days, makes us very proud,” concluded Badenhorst. Victor and Victrix Ludorum awards were also presented to the best swimmers at the tournament. Aqua Swimming Club, Dolphins Swimming Club, Marlins Swimming Club, Namib Swim Academy, Oranjemund Sand Sharks, Swakopmund Swimming Club and Lechwe Swimming Club from Zambia, participated in the tournament. Dolphins Swimming Club scooped the Best Team award. 2018-02-28Staff Report 2
