Records tumble at national champs

The much-anticipated national swimming champs saw 164 swimmers participating in 1 423 events over four days and concluded with a prize-giving ceremony at the Olympia Swimming Pool on Sunday.

Nico Esslinger, Quinn Ellis, Oliver Ohm and José Canjulo broke the 200m freestyle relay record, 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 shared the Single Best Performance Trophy.

Ellmies was awarded the trophy for her 200m freestyle performance and Heleni Stergiadis for her 200m medley swim.

Both swimmers 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 thankful and could not hide her excitement.

“I am so proud of myself. We have been practicing 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 the 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 (NASU) spokesperson Jurie Badenhorst.

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.

The Victor and Victrix Ludorum awards were also presented to the best swimmers.



They are:

Junior Victor Ludorum (14 and under)

First prize: Jose Canjulo - 168 points

Second prize: Mikah Burger - 153 points

Third prize: Oliver Durand - 109 points

Senior Victor Ludorum

First prize: Ronan Wantenaar – 2 848 FINA points

Second prize: Corne Le Roux – 2 559 FINA points

Third prize: Jorn Diekmann – 2 463 FINA points

Junior Victrix Ludorum (14 and under)

First prize: Viktoria Ellmies - 155 points

Second prize: Tiana Esslinger - 133 points

Third prize: Danielle Mostert - 96 points

Senior Victrix Ludorum

First prize: Heleni Stergiadis – 2 922 FINA points

Second prize: Viktoria Ellmies – 2 709 FINA points

Third prize: Joanne Liebenberg – 2 657 FINA points



Sport Reporter