Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia’s swimmers continue to excel after they won the Africa Aquatics Zone IV Championships for the third year in a row over the weekend.
Competing at the XXI Africa Aquatics Zone IV Swimming and Open Water Swimming Championships in Manzini, Eswatini, Namibia won the swimming championships from 3 to 6 September, and finished second behind South Africa in the open water competition on 7 September.
South Africa won more medals than Namibia, but Namibia won the points tally which is used to determine the overall winners.
In the swimming competition, Namibia finished first with a total of 2 254,50 points, followed by South Africa on 2 021 and Zimbabwe on 1 703, while Botswana came fourth on 1 321 and Seychelles fifth on 1 229,50.
South Africa won the medal tally with 57 gold, 39 silver and 17 bronze medals for a total of 113 medals, followed by Namibia with 27 gold, 27 silver and 29 bronze (83 total) and Madagascar with 10 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze for a total of 28 medals.
On Sunday, South Africa won the open water swimming competition with a total of 260 points, followed by Namibia on 140 and Angola on 130 points.
A total of 12 Southern African countries participated in the championships while it was the third year in a row that Namibia had won the title following their successes in Luanda in 2023 and in Windhoek last year.
According to a press release issued by the Namibia Aquatics Sports Federation, Oliver Durand was the standout swimmer in the men’s 17-19 year age group.
“Oliver Durand delivered a standout performance throughout the competition, breaking multiple championship records and earning the prestigious Victor Ludorum trophy for the Men’s 17-19 age group,” it says.
“Victoria De Sousa was a strong contender for the Girls 13-14 trophy, also breaking several championship records before an unfortunate shoulder injury forced her to withdraw from her final three events. Despite this setback, her contributions significantly boosted the team’s medal tally,” it says.
The Namibian team consisted of 23 swimmers led by a management team of coach Adriaan Maritz and team managers Tarryn McNamara and Zimone Maritz.
There were also some outstanding performances by Namibian swimmers in the open water competition.
In the 5km men’s event (19 & over), Nico Esslinger won the gold medal and Arkell Wellmann the bronze medal.
In the 16–18 age group, Oliver Durand won gold and Tristan Nell bronze, while Riley Bergh twon the bronze medal in the boys 14–15 year category.
Inj the women’s events, Brynne Kinnaird won the silver medal in the 5km 16-18 year age group; Scarlett McNamara (age 13) won gold in the 1km event for her age group; and Nora Schlabitz won bronze in the 1km 16-18 year age group.
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