Swimmers amaze in South Africa
TEN Windhoek swimmers left a positive impression at the Northern Tigers provincial swimming championships held in Pretoria's Hillcrest swimming pool when they swam into 22 finals, winning 7 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.
This despite the fact that our swimmers faced fierce competition from South Africa's national and Olympic squad members such as Suzaan van Biljon, Cameron van der Burg, William Diering and Gerhard Zandberg. Tamara Siedentopf (13) swam into finals for both the 50m and 200m breaststroke, finishing 6th and 8th respectively.
In the age group 14-15, Maritio van Wyk swam personal best times in all six events he competed in. Dean Spall (14), despite finishing 5th overall in the morning heats for the 200m backstroke, was unfortunately not allowed to compete in the finals as he was the 3rd out-of-province swimmer for the finals.
His team colleague, Jean Leitner (14) was more fortunate finishing 4th in the 200m backstroke heat he competed in the finals to achieve 6th place. Ajad van Wyk (15) made it past the heats in two events and swam the 200 individual medley final finishing 7th and lOOm butterfly, finishing 8th. Tristan McDonald (15) proved that he would have been a medal contender at the Junior Mrican championships scheduled to take place last week in Cairo, but which was postponed at short notice by the Egyptian Swimming Federation.
McDonald finished amongst the top eight in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, lOOm backstroke and 200m backstroke. In the finals he pulled out all stops once more and won a bronze medal for the lOOm backstroke and gold medals for the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke. The toughest competition was set for Monique Marais, Joachim Leitner and Max Siedentopf. At 16 years of age, all three had to compete in the 'open' category.
Despite this challenge, Leitner finished 10th for the 200m backstroke and Marais managed to swim in the 400m freestyle finals, improving her personal best time by 4.35s to finish 6th overall. One ofthe most exciting races ofthe championships was produced by Namibia's fastest 200m breaststroke swimmer, Max Siedentopf, when he and South Africa's Junior African championships swimmer, Mathew Napier-Jameson, chased each other over four lengths, leaving six other swimmers far behind in their wake and keeping spectators and officials captivated.
Upon touching, Siedentopf proved that he too would have been a serious medal contender for Namibia at the Junior African championships, not only having beaten Napier-Jameson, but finishing an astonishing 2nd overall in the heats. Unfortunately due to a lack international experience he could not maintain this position in the Open finals and ended 6th overall.
In the Men's Open lOOm breaststroke event, Siedentopfs fiercest competition came from Cameron van der Burg, currently ranked the fastest lOOm breaststroke short course swimmer in the world, and William Diering, also amongst the world's top 25. Faced with this challenge, Siedentopfswam into the finals in 8th place overall.
This despite the fact that our swimmers faced fierce competition from South Africa's national and Olympic squad members such as Suzaan van Biljon, Cameron van der Burg, William Diering and Gerhard Zandberg. Tamara Siedentopf (13) swam into finals for both the 50m and 200m breaststroke, finishing 6th and 8th respectively.
In the age group 14-15, Maritio van Wyk swam personal best times in all six events he competed in. Dean Spall (14), despite finishing 5th overall in the morning heats for the 200m backstroke, was unfortunately not allowed to compete in the finals as he was the 3rd out-of-province swimmer for the finals.
His team colleague, Jean Leitner (14) was more fortunate finishing 4th in the 200m backstroke heat he competed in the finals to achieve 6th place. Ajad van Wyk (15) made it past the heats in two events and swam the 200 individual medley final finishing 7th and lOOm butterfly, finishing 8th. Tristan McDonald (15) proved that he would have been a medal contender at the Junior Mrican championships scheduled to take place last week in Cairo, but which was postponed at short notice by the Egyptian Swimming Federation.
McDonald finished amongst the top eight in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, lOOm backstroke and 200m backstroke. In the finals he pulled out all stops once more and won a bronze medal for the lOOm backstroke and gold medals for the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke. The toughest competition was set for Monique Marais, Joachim Leitner and Max Siedentopf. At 16 years of age, all three had to compete in the 'open' category.
Despite this challenge, Leitner finished 10th for the 200m backstroke and Marais managed to swim in the 400m freestyle finals, improving her personal best time by 4.35s to finish 6th overall. One ofthe most exciting races ofthe championships was produced by Namibia's fastest 200m breaststroke swimmer, Max Siedentopf, when he and South Africa's Junior African championships swimmer, Mathew Napier-Jameson, chased each other over four lengths, leaving six other swimmers far behind in their wake and keeping spectators and officials captivated.
Upon touching, Siedentopf proved that he too would have been a serious medal contender for Namibia at the Junior African championships, not only having beaten Napier-Jameson, but finishing an astonishing 2nd overall in the heats. Unfortunately due to a lack international experience he could not maintain this position in the Open finals and ended 6th overall.
In the Men's Open lOOm breaststroke event, Siedentopfs fiercest competition came from Cameron van der Burg, currently ranked the fastest lOOm breaststroke short course swimmer in the world, and William Diering, also amongst the world's top 25. Faced with this challenge, Siedentopfswam into the finals in 8th place overall.
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