PORT ELIZABETH, April 30 (ANA) – The 2018 SA National Aquatic Championships wrapped up over the weekend with 18 athletes swimming their way to an impressive total of 31 Youth Olympic qualification times at the Newton Park swimming pool in Port Elizabeth.
On the final day of the competition, Mariella Venter cemented her Youth Olympics qualification time in the 200m backstroke with a fast 2min 12.06sec, more than four seconds under the required 2:17.83, with Samantha Randle claiming silver in 2:17.50 and Megan Tully bronze in 2:18.74.
In the men’s backstroke race, Martin Binedell was victorious in 2:01.02, while Brent Szurdoki walked away with the silver in 2:03.03 and Ian Venter the bronze in 2:05.79.
Szurdoki also bagged the bronze in the 400m individual medley in 4:27.06 behind fellow 2018 Commonwealth Games competitors Ayrton Sweeney (4:22.80) and Jarryd Baxter (4:26.72), while Randle went one better, winning the gold in 4:55.54 to Jessica Whelan’s 4:55.80 and Marne Frylinck’s 5:00.50.
In the 800m freestyle, Kate Beavon, Abi Meder and Duné Coetzee all dipped under the 9:00.16 Youth Olympics requirement to scoop gold, silver and bronze in 8:47.07, 8:52.22 and 8:53.21.
Meanwhile, KZN’s Aryan Makhija made the qualification list with a silver medal time of 8:14.90 to Baxter’s gold time of 8:13.86 and James Freeman’s bronze 8:17.94.
Douglas Erasmus took the honours in the fast-pace 50m freestyle in 23.11 ahead of Gawie Nortje in a qualification time of 23.12 and Armand Maritz in 23.54.
On the women’s side, Erin Gallagher was once again in top form, claiming the gold in 25.74, followed by her Commonwealth Games teammate Emma Chelius in 26.29 and Aimee Canny in 26.67.
Gallagher concluded the championships with yet another gold medal, this time in the 100m butterfly, clocking 1:00.19 with Coetzee a close second in a qualification time of 1:01.26, while Henju Duvenhage, despite finishing fifth, confirmed his Youth Olympics qualification time by touching the wall in 55.19, with the gold medal going to Daniel Ronaldson in 54.38.
Lara van Niekerk and Michael Houlie both raced to qualification standard times in the 50m breaststroke and walked away with the gold medals in 32.18 and 28.50.
In the multi-disability 200m individual medley events, Michaela Kretzen (SM14), Paralympian Alani Ferreira (SM13), Ethan Pause (SM14) and Commonwealth Games swimmer Christian Sadie (SM7) topped the medal podium in 3:07.03, 2:53.33, 2:35.05 and 2:52.55, respectively.
The final team for the third Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Argentina from October 6 to 18, will be selected by Sascoc.
Sascoc will also select the final teams for the Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games in Botswana as well as the African Youth Games in Algeria, while the final team selection for the Senior Africa Swimming Championships, also in Algeria, will be chosen by Swimming SA. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman
