Second session on day one of the 2011 Telkom South Africa Youth National Championships
Day one of the 2011 Telkom South Africa Youth National Championships included the events of Men’s 50m backstroke, 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly along with the Women’s 50m butterfly, 200m Individual Medley and 50m breast-stroke.
The event started with the Men’s 50m backstroke final, where WPA-WP’s Zaahir Gamiet dominated the event in a time of 26.82 seconds, ahead of his team-member Lyle P Aloile and EP-EP’s Adam Stevenson, who came second and third in 27.27 and 27.62 seconds, respectively.
Gamiet’s time was 0.52 seconds slower than the FINA time qualification standard and he failed to confirm his spot to China.
In the Women’s 50m butterfly, NTS-NT’s Amy N Peens earned the gold medal in a fastest time of 29.28 seconds but failed to qualify for China, as her timing was much slower than the FINA’s standard of 26.28 seconds. CGA-CG’s Sabr Kaszechki and Peens’s team-mate
Fabienn Marsay climbed the podium for the silver and bronze medal in a time of 29.44 and 29.57 seconds, respectively.
Next was the Men’s 400m freestyle event, where Greece-ZZ’s Nick Manousakis produced a wonderful time of 4:01.28 minutes to earn the gold medal. He was followed by CGA-CG’s Michael Meyer and WPA-WP’s Danie Marais, who touched the wall in a time of 4:03.63
and 4:03.93 minutes, respectively.
Moments later, the arena witnessed a gruelling swim of CGA-CG’s Macfarlane that provided her gold medal in the Women’s 200m IM. KZNA-KZ’s Lindsay McLeod and Kyna Pereira engaged each other in a battle for the silver medal. McLeod out-touched Pereira in the
last lap with a timing of 2:23.55 minutes, against Pereira’s 2:23.73 minutes. The fourth spot on the podium was secured by EP-EP’s Michael Barnes, who touched the wall in a time of 2:24.12 minutes.
Shaun De Villiers conquered the title of the Men’s 200m butterfly by touching the wall in a time of 2:04.17 minutes, ahead of the Fsa-FS’s Van der Merwe and EP-EP’s Thoma Hansford, who posted a time of 2:04.43 and 2:05.69 minutes for the silver and bronze
medal, respectively.
The last event of the session was the Women’s 50m breast-stroke final, where KZNA-KZ’s Nikki J Kirkby remained in a clear lead with her timing of 33.79 seconds and clocked the gold medal. The next four finishers displayed a neck-to-neck race by clocking
a time between 34.44 and 34.78 seconds. NTS-NT’s Fabienne Marsay and CGA-CG’s KI McLachlan won the silver and bronze medal in a time of 34.45 and 34.57 seconds, respectively.
The championship will continue for four more days and will conclude on April 16, 2011.
Tags: