DAKAR, Senegal, September 16. DURING the penultimate day of in-pool competition at the African Swimming Championships in Dakar, Senegal, South African boosted its meet-leading medal total to 29 (16G, 6S, 7B). Algerian built on its second-place total to 21 (7G, 7S, 7B), while Tunisia remained in third with 18 (4G, 8S, 6B).<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 50 Breaststroke<\/b>
\nSouth African Tamaryn Laubscher corralled her fifth gold medal of the meet with a triumph in the 50 breast. She touched the wall in 33.33 to beat second-place Meriem Lamri of Algeria\u2019s 34.02 clocking. Lamri barely touched out Moroccan Sara El Bekri for third as El Bekri garnered bronze in 34.05.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50 Butterfly<\/b>
\nComing off a huge anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay in which Salim Iles came-from-behind to win gold for his Algerian team, Iles won again with a 24.75 in the 50 fly. Kenyan Jason Dunford placed second overall with a 24.88, while South African Fouche Venter garnered third in 25.17.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Butterfly<\/b>
\nAlgerian Sarah Hadjabderahmane picked up gold in the 200 fly with a 2:16.72 that left no doubt as she touched the wall. Her closest competitor proved to be second-place South African Louise Smyth, who touched well behind in 2:19.26. Tunisian Mariem Meddeb placed third in 2:24.06 to round out the podium.<\/p>\n
Hadjabderahmane built a nearly two-second lead at the 100-meter mark with a 1:05.85 against Smyth\u2019s 1:07.11.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 IM<\/b>
\nTunisia owned the men\u2019s 200 IM with a top-two sweep as Taki M\u2019Rabet touched out his compatriot Ahmed Mathlouthi by .15 seconds to pocket gold. Overall, M\u2019Rabet clocked a 2:06.84, while Mathlouthi recorded a 2:06.99 for silver. Algerian Mehdi Hamama closed out the top three with a bronze-winning 2:07.14.<\/p>\n
After pushing out to a three-second advantage at the 100-meter mark with a 58.95 split, M\u2019Rabet held on for dear life as Mathlouthi stormed back from a 1:01.98 100-meter split to nearly win the event.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Backstroke<\/b>
\nKenyan David Dunford won a tightly-contested 200 back with a 2:06.48. South African Stuart Rogers placed just behind in 2:06.74, while Algerian Naoufel Benabid snared bronze with a 2:06.93.<\/p>\n
In the second straight hard-fought final, Dunford nearly gave up a two-second first-half lead. The Kenyan staked himself to that advantage with a 1:00.94 over the first 100 meters, while Rogers touched at the halfway mark with a 1:02.73.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 400 Medley Relay<\/b>
\nThe South Africans broke up the Algerian relay party by denying the Algerians a relay sweep in the 400 medley relay. The South African contingent of Stuart Rogers, Thabang Moeketsane, Fouche Venter and Shaun Harris raced to victory in 3:46.52. Meanwhile, the Algerian team of Naoufel Benabid, Sofiane Daid, Nabil Kebbab and Salim Iles snagged silver in 3:49.12, while the Egyptian quartet of Mohamed Tarek Salah, Ayman Khatab, Ahmed Salah and Abdel Rahman A. Bakr nabbed bronze in 3:53.34.<\/p>\n
Rogers opened the triumphant race for the South Africans with a 58.95 in the backstroke leg, before Moeketsane recorded a 1:02.47 in the breaststroke leg. Venter then registered a 54.72 split in the butterfly leg, before Harris brought it home with a 50.38 freestyle leg.<\/p>\n
Men's 1500 Freestyle<\/b>
\nSouth African Chad Ho won the event in a dominant 15:52.52, while Egyptian Mohamed Magdy placed second in 16:03.21. Tunisian Ahmed Mathlouhti rounded out the top three with a bronze-winning 16:07.11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAKAR, Senegal, September 16. DURING the penultimate day of in-pool competition at the African Swimming Championships in Dakar, Senegal, South African boosted its meet-leading medal total to 29 (16G, 6S,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n