DAKAR, Senegal, September 17. SOUTH African completed its domination in the pool at the African Swimming Championships held in Dakar, Senegal from Sept. 11-17. The South African contingent finished with 37 medals (19G, 10S, 8B) to easily handle the rest of the continent’s teams. Algeria placed second with 25 medals (8G, 9S, 8B), while Tunisia took third with 20 medals (5G, 9S, 6B). The meet will conclude tomorrow with 5k open water swimming in Dakar-Goree.
Women’s 400 Freestyle
South Africa swept the top-two spots in the women’s 400 free as Leone Vorster and Natalie Du Toit placed one-two in the event. Vorster crushed the competition with a 4:17.44, while Du Toit claimed silver with a 4:24.83. Meanwhile, Seychelles’ Shrone Austin picked up bronze in 4:26.21.
By the midway mark, Vorster had already built a two-second lead with a 2:07.94 split and never looked back en route to the victory.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
The sprint champion of the meet so far with an anchor leg win in the 400 free relay and in the 50 fly, Algerian Salim Iles snared another individual gold with a 22.65 in the 50 free. He finished ahead of second-place South African Shaun Harris (22.96) and third-place Kenyan Jason Dunford (23.31).
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Tunisian Sarra Chahed hit the wall first in the women’s sprint freestyle with a 27.13 to defeat second-place South African Marielle Rogers (27.44) and third-place Samantha Richter (27.56) from Zimbabwe.
Men’s 200 Butterfly
Egypt went one-three in the 200 fly as Ahmed Salah earned the title and Mostafa Atef pocketed bronze. Salah posted the only sub-2:03 time of finals with a 2:02.95, while Atef took third in 2:05.60. Algerian Sofiane Daid split the difference with a silver-winning 2:03.64.
Salah pushed his advantage to more than a second at the halfway mark with a 58.06 split at the 100-meter mark.
Women’s 200 IM
The meet’s gold medal queen, South African Tamaryn Laubscher, snagged her sixth pinnacle medal of the meet with a win in the 200 IM. In the end, Laubscher stopped the clock in 2:21.76 to claim victory, while Tunisian Maroua Mathlouthi earned silver in 2:22.85. Laubscher’s compatriot Tanya Bouffe rounded out the podium with a third-place 2:23.91.
Laubscher never trailed as she routinely built her lead up to three seconds heading into the freestyle stroke, and then held off a hard-charging Mathlouthi for her sixth gold of the meet.
Men’s 100 Backstroke
Kenyan David Dunford proved triumphant in the 100 back with a time of 58.17. That effort eclipsed the second-place 58.98 recorded by South African Stuart Rogers and the third-place 59.26 posted by Algerian Naoufel Benabid.
Dunford also led at the 50-meter mark with a 28.43 for the only sub-29-second first 50 of the race.
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
South Africa swept the women’s relays with a conquest of the 400 medley. The quartet of Lehesta Kemp, Tamaryn Laubscher, Elzanne Werth and Leone Vorster brought home gold with a 4:18.74. That performance far surpassed the second-place time of 4:27.09 recorded by the Algerian team of Karima Lahmar, Meriem Lamri, Sarah Habjabderahmane and Felle Bennaceur. Meanwhile, the Egyptian squad of Dina Hegazy, Salma Raouf Gasser, May Attef and Heba Yehia placed third in 4:30.18.
Kemp led off the South African contingent with a 1:05.69 in the backstroke leg before giving way to Laubscher’s breaststroke leg of 1:11.32 split. Werth took over in the butterfly leg with a 1:03.75 split, before Vorster anchored the victory with a 57.98 freestyle leg.
Remarkably, the win gave Laubscher her seventh gold medal of the meet.