SWIMMING NEWS - An additional 12 Fina Junior World Swimming Championships qualification times were achieved during the second day of the SA National Junior Age Group Championships in Durban on Thursday.
Luan Grobbelaar (17) raced to a Fina Junior Qualification time in the 100m backstroke with a golden 57.32 ahead of Jack Oliver (18) in 57.71 and Henju Duvenhage (17) in 57.93, while in the ladies' 16 year old category race, it was Olivia Nel and Tailyn Seyffert that added their names to the qualification list in 1:04.04 and 1:04.30, respectively, with the bronze going to Kerryn Herbst in 1:05.82.
Seyffert also went on to win the 50m breaststroke in 33.36.
Dune Coetzee (16) continued her Fina Junior World Championships preparations with a gold medal in the 200m butterfly and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle both in qualification times of 2:12.32 and 2:02.08, while Hannah Robertson (14) added the 200m freestyle to her Qualification times when she topped her race in 2:05.65.
Rebecca Meder (16) and Aimee Canny (15) were more than happy with their gold wins in the 200m freestyle, both clocking Fina Junior Qualification times of 2:02.01 and 2:04.87, respectively, while the gold in the 17-18 age group went to Kate Beavon (18) in 2:05.53.
Ethan du Preez (15) and Ruan Breytenbach (16) added the 200m butterfly Fina Junior qualification times to their tally, winning the gold and bronze in 1:58.66 and 2:04.37, while Tiago Cordeiro (18) claimed the silver in 2:02.70.
Luca Holtzhausen (15) grabbed the gold in the 100m backstroke in 59.75 and the 200m freestyle with a Fina Junior Qualification time of 1:53.02 and later on managed a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in 30.35 to Matthew Sates's 30.19 and Jaiden Staines's 30.36, while Sates took home the silver in the freestyle race in 1:55.17.
Pretoria's Ethan Spieker (16) was fast off the block in the 200m freestyle, clocking a Fina Junior Qualification time of 1:53.71 to the 1:53.80 requirement, while Botswana's James Freeman won his respective age group freestyle race with a Qualification time of 1:52.95.
Kian Keylock (13) walked away with an outstanding four gold medals, topping the 200m butterfly in 2:16.74, the 100m backstroke in 1:01.95, the 200m freestyle in 2:04.62 and the 50m breaststroke in 31.03, while Andre van der Heever (12) and Pieter Coetzee (14) won their respective 100m backstroke and 50m breaststroke events in 34.02 and 1:06.13 and 59.45 and 30.79, respectively.
Van der Heever also went on to win a silver in the 200m freestyle in 2:13.67 ahead of Wilbert Vorster in 2:15.31 and behind Ivan Hart in 2:12.44, while the gold in the 14 age group race when to Ryan Zasas in 2:00.30, followed by Leshen Pillay in 2:00.67 and Reece Johnson in 2:01.10.
Jacob Armon (16) won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke in 30.54 ahead of Luke Slabber (16) in 30.66 and behind Luan de Waal (16) in 29.57, while Armon also bagged the bronze in the 100m backstroke in 1:00.23 behind of Dylan Wright in 59.83 and Zimbabwe's Denilson Cyprianos in 59.72 and another silver in the 200m freestyle in 1:56.58.
