Swimming a very reduced schedule in Brazzaville at the All-Africa Games, Chad Le Clos of South Africa was without peer in the 100 butterfly, putting up a strong time to repeat as meet champion.
Le Clos uncorked a 51.24 in the final, his fourth-fastest swim of 2015 but very distant to the 50.56 he swam at the world championships almost exactly one month ago to win there and set a lifetime best. Le Clos was well ahead of the rest of the pack, breaking Jason Dunford’s meet record of 52.13. The rest of the field included an Egyptian national record time of 53.54 from Omar Eissa for the silver medal. South Africa’s Nico Meyer was third with a 55.26.
South Africa continued to dominate on the second day in the Congo, winning five more events. Cameron Van Der Burgh wrapped up his meet with a 27.18 in the 50 breaststroke, a bit off the 26.42 that stands as his lifetime best from the world championships. It did break his meet record of 27.74 from 2011, however. Youssef Elkamash earned another breaststroke silver medal with a 28.10 to go along with yesterday’s runner-up finish in the 100 breast and just miss his national record of 28.05. Tunisia’s Wassim Elloumi took third with a 28.62.
After being upset yesterday in the 100 free, Karin Prinsloo cruised to a win in the women’s 200 free with a 2:00.14, just missing her meet record of 1:59.84. Marlies Ross gave South Africa a 1-2 finish with a 2:02.61, just barely beating Majda Chebaraka’s 2:02.63, which broke her own Algerian national record by two seconds.
Ayrton Sweeney kept South Africa at the top of the medal stand with a 4:21.83 to win the men’s 400 IM. In a close race for the silver medal, Pedro Pinotes of Angola placed second with a 4:23.12 ahead of the 4:23.87 by Egypt’s Ahmed Hamdy. Both swimmers broke national records.
Tatjana Schoonmaker was the only swimmer under 2:30 in the women’s 200 breast, capturing gold for South Africa with a 2:28.84. She just missed the meet record of 2:28.00 from 1999 by the legendary Penny Heyns. Schoonmaker’s teammate Kelly Gunnell earned silver with a 2:31.52, with Daniela Lindemeier of Namibia finishing third for bronze with a 2:34.23.
South Africa took down Egypt in the mixed 400 freestyle relay with a 3:31.56 to Egypt’s 3:32.52. Algeria was third with a 3:40.93. The list of swimmers and split times were not immediately available.
Egypt’s Akram Ahmed was a surprise fourth place in the men’s 1500 freestyle at last month’s world championships, and he kept rolling through a successful summer with a 7:55.36 to lead a 1-2 finish for his nation in the 800 free in Brazzaville. Ahmed split 7:52.50 at the 800-meter mark in that 1500 free final in Russia to set the national record, so he wasn’t able to surpass that today. But it was the first swim under eight minutes at the meet, beating the championship record of 8:02.84 by South African Troy Prinsloo in 2007. Marwan Elkamash finished second with a 7:59.54, beating South Africa’s Devon Brown to the wall by three hundredths of a second.
Egypt’s Farida Osman won her second gold medal of the meet with a 26.31 to win the women’s 50 butterfly final. Her best is a 25.78, which is the African continental record and was done last month at the world championships. Osman’s time does demolish her own meet record of 27.08 from 2011. South Africa earned silver and bronze in the event, with Vanessa Mohr taking second with a 26.39 and Jessica Ashley-Cooper finishing third in 27.02.
2015 All-Africa Games, Day 2 – Results
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