Young guns chase Olympic glory

The talented youth of South Africa continued to showcase their passion for the sport by adding nine more Youth Olympic qualification times during the third day of the SA National Aquatic Championships at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth.

Christin Mundell, 16, and Mariella Venter, 18, raced to their second qualification times in the 200m individual medley, winning the gold and silver in 2:18.31 and 2:18.35 respectively.

Venter grabbed another qualifying time in the semifinals of the 50m backstroke, in 29.73.

Mundell also added the 200m breaststroke to her ever-growing Youth Olympic qualification times tally when she concluded the semifinals in 2:31.62, while Michael Houlie’s semis time of 2:18.56 was just 0.46secs off the required 2:18.10.

In the men’s medley event, Luan Grobbelaar confirmed his Youth Olympics qualification time and scooped the bronze medal in 2:05.82, while Jarryd Baxter topped the medal podium in 2:00.85 ahead of Ayrton Sweeney in 2:02.18.

Bloemfontein’s Gawie Nortje, 16, finished the 100m freestyle in second place with a qualification time of 51.12, just 0.28secs from the 51.40 standard and will be looking forward to confirming that time in the final.

Among the women, Erin Gallagher was fastest in 56.01, followed by Emma Chelius in 57.00 and Aimee Canny in 57.36.
The 200m butterfly final saw Dune Coetzee’s first qualification time of the competition in a fast 2:14.73, more than six seconds ahead of Trinity Hearne in 2:21.52, while Ethan du Preez and Ruan Breytenbach both managed a qualification time in the 200m butterfly semifinals, touching the wall in 2:02.18 and 2:03.35, to the 2:05.73 requirement.

In the 50m backstroke semifinals, Western Cape’s Henju Duvenhage pencilled his name on the Youth Olympics qualification list with a time of 26.44, behind Jacques van Wyk (25.89).

In the 1 500m freestyle, the medals went to Kate Beavon, Abi Meder and Samantha Randle in 17:01.11, 17:12.61 and 17:19.04, with the men’s honours going to Brent Szurdoki, James Freeman and Aryan Makhija in 15:42.46, 15:50.29 and 15:52.44 respectively.

In the multi-disability 50m butterfly, Shannon Martins (S9) came out on top in 39.44.

On the men’s side; Ethan Paulse (S14) bagged the gold in 28.82, while Franco Smit (S12) won his respective race in 27.89, followed by Commonwealth Games silver medallist Christian Sadie (S7) in 31.09.

Paulse also won the 50m freestyle in 27.05, while Paralympian Hendri Herbst (S11) claimed the gold medal in the S1-13 category in 27.35, ahead of Sadie in 30.20.

Michaela Kretzen (S14) and Katelyn Marais (S9) won the women’s titles in 33.06 and 33.76.