SA tally at African Swimming Champs grows to 35

Cape Town - 17-year-old Kaylene Corbett led the South African charge on day three of the XII CANA African Swimming Championships at the Stadium Swimming Pool in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.

South Africa added 11 more medals to their growing tally, picking up a total of 35 medals with 17 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze.

According to the SASCOC website, Port Elizabeth’s Corbett won the 50m breaststroke final and also broke the 2008 Championship record of 32.64 seconds, when she touched the wall in a golden time of 32.58.

Team-mate Hanim Abrahams came a close second in 33.08 and Egypt’s Mai Atef third in 33.44.

In the 400m freestyle, it was Caitlin Kat who came out tops in 4:24.74. SA’s Jessica Whelan was in the lead for the first three laps, but Kat’s sprint in the last 200m proved too strong and Whelan finished with the bronze in 4:29.68, as Algeria’s Souad Nefissa Cherouna came second in 4:26.44.

Mariella Venter was quick off the block in the 100m backstroke, easily winning in 1:02.44, over three seconds ahead of Seychelles’ Alexus Laird in 1:05.53 and Egypt’s Ingy Abouzaid in 1:06.50.

Martin Binedell and Neil Fair were too quick for Egypt’s Ahmed Hamdy, walking away with the gold and silver in the 200m backstroke in 2:03.43 and 2:04.33, respectively, to Hamdy’s bronze time of 2:07.45.

In the 50m butterfly, Rio Olympian Douglas Erasmus added another gold medal to the host nation’s tally in 24.33, while Alard Basson claimed the bronze in 24.83 and Egypt’s Hassan Yasser the silver in 24.64.

South Africa took silver in the men's 100m freestyle with Calvyn Justus finishing with a time of 50.21, behind Algeria's Oussama Sahnoune, who claimed a new championship record of 49.60.

The South African ladies 4x100m team missed out on another medal opportunity after being disqualified due to a false start, as Algeria took gold.

In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, Olympian Myles Brown, Josh Dannhauser, Brent Szurdoki and Calvyn Justus claimed the gold in 7:36.80 to end the evening on a high note ahead of Egypt in 7:38.89 and Morocco in 8:10.37.

The XII CANA African Swimming Championships ends on October 23.