Namibia will have five swimmers at the 10th Senior African Championships due to be held in Casablanca, Morocco from 13-19 September.
The swimmers are Christine Briedenhann (14), Micaela Cloete (14), Daniella Lindemeier (18), JP Engelbrecht (17) and Boris Kulikowski (17). Ryan Skinner will accompany them as the coach.
Rusten Mogane, The Chief Administrator of the Namibian Sports Commission told the swimmers to go and represent the country well.
“You are going there to represent the country for all of us, not just for yourselves. I know that you will do well in the various events that you will be competing in,” Mogane said.
“You are all young and hopefully the experience you are going to get will mean that in the next five or six years you will be beating the best in the world,” Mogane continued.
Of all the swimmers, Briedenhann is the only one who has attended the African Championships before. She participated in the 2008 edition that was held in South Africa in the 100m backstroke when she was 12 years old and reached the finals.
“I have been preparing very well for the championships with some obstacles along the way. I had an ear infection that had to be operated on, when I recovered, I continued with my training and I feel that I am ready,” Briedenhann said.
Briedenhann will be competing in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and the 200m individual medley.
Cloete will be competing in the 50m and 100m freestyle.
“It is quite an achievement for me to have qualified for the championships. All the hard work and years that I put into swimming have paid off,” Cloete said.
Engelbrecht, who will be competing in the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, was very confident of his chances at the championships.
“I am confident that I will do very well, I have been training very hard for the last couple of months,” Engelbrecht said.
Kulikowski will be competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke while Lindemeier will be competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.
Kulikowski and Lindemeier have both been preparing for the championships at the Pretoria High Performance Centre in South Africa while the rest of the swimmers have been preparing under Ryan Skinner in Windhoek.
“For most of them this is their first senior competition and we expect that they will do well,” Skinner said.
“We are looking at getting into as many finals as possible. We also hope that they will get good times and hopefully break some Namibian records,” Skinner added.
The team will leave for Casablanca on 9 September and are expected back on the 21st.