South African Open Water Swimmers Win Big at CANA Zone IV

The South African Open Water swimming team added 22 medals (12 gold, 8 silver and 2 bronze) to the country’s tally during the second day of the CANA Zone IV Championships in Namibia today.

In the men’s 14-15 age group 5km event, Dennis de Villiers, Connor Albertyn and Alex Wehmeyer walked away with the gold, silver and bronze in 01:04:28, 01:04:29 and 01:15.52 respectively, while on the ladies’ side Leigh McMorran (01:04:23) and Catherine van Rensburg (01:05:20) were the gold and silver duo, while the bronze was claimed by Kenya’s Nurayn Bagha in 01:28:43.

Albertyn went one better and won the gold in the 3km race in 00:40:38 ahead of De Villiers in 00:41:33, with the bronze going to the Seychelles’ Alain Vidot in 00:44:12, while on the ladies’ side, Van Rensburg grabbed the gold in 00:41:39 ahead of McMorran in 00:41:55 and Zimbabwe’s Ella Allardice managed the bronze in 00:47:13.

The South Africans continued to dominate as Flippie van der Spuy, Zac Ellis and Muhammad Adam scooped the top three spots in the 16-18 age group 5km race in 01:02:53, 01:04:24 and 01:04:26, respectively, while Stephanie Houtman (01:04:41) and Tasneem Ebrahim (01:11:12) won the gold and silver in the ladies’ event, with the bronze going to Namibia’s Joanne Liebenberg in 01:13:20.

Van der Spuy (00:40:57) and Ellis (00:41:34) also won the gold and silver in their respective 3km race with Namibia’s Matthew Gertze finishing off the medal podium in 00:46:07, while Houtman (00:40:40) and Ebrahim (00:44:55) also made it double in the 3km, with Zimbabwe’s Gemma Schonken winning the bronze in 00:48:26.

Refiloe Mashao won the gold in the 19 and over 5km race in 01:04:25 with Namibia’s Paddy Murphy a close second in 01:20:26, while Mashao also claimed the gold in the 3km event in 00:40:42, ahead of Namibia’s Jureck Johannesson in 00:48:23.

In the 12-13 age group 3km, Connor Jay was victorious in 00:46:17 with team-mate Tiara Finnis winning the ladies’ race in 00:49:02.

Check out more open water news here.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Swimming South Africa. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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Jason Mayer

5 years ago

Anna Pastuszak