Swimming

JP Engelbrecht and Daniela Lindemeier of the Namib Swimming Academy won the Senior Victor and Victrix Ludorum trophies at the National Swimming Championships which were concluded on Sunday.

The 17-year-old Engelbrecht came first with a total of 3 384 FINA points, followed by 17-year-old Andries Niemann of Swakopmund (2 818 FINA points) and 16-year-old Florian Henzen of Dolphins (2 766 FINA points).

Namibia’s swimming team won six medals to finish fourth overall out of ten countries at the Zone Six Under 20 Youth Games which were held in Swaziland during December.

South Africa dominated the competition, winning with a total of 57 medals (30 gold, 22 silver and 5 bronze), followed by Zimbabwe (25 medals) and Mozambique (7 medals). Namibia won one silver and five bronze medals to finish fourth, while Swaziland, with one bronze medal finished fifth.

A new start for swimming

Swimming in Namibia had to start anew in 2010 as most of its top senior swimmers departed for tertiary education in South Africa and abroad.

An era came to an end in 2009 when Namibia was represented by six swimmers at the FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy. Jonay, Byron and Christine Briedenhann, Alex Ray, Max Siedentopf and Daniela Lindemeier all qualified for the World Championships in Rome, to set a record for Namibian representation at the World Championships.

Namibia’s five swimmers who competed at the World Swimming Championships in Dubai established a total of 7 Namibian Open and 7 Namibian Age Group records while they all ranked among the top five African swimmers in selected events.

The 18-year-old breaststroke swimmer Daniela Lindemeier set new 17/18 Year Age Group and Open records in each event that she competed in.

In the 50m breaststroke she set a new record of 33,85 seconds which bettered her own Age Group record of 34,34 as well as Jonay Briedenhann’s Open record of 34,22. With this time she was ranked second in Africa.

Max Siedentopf and Daniela Lindemeier both established new Namibian Open records at the 10th FINA World Swimming Championships on Friday.

Siedentopf gave a fantastic performance to cut nearly three seconds off Werner Wagner’s previous 200m breaststroke Open record of 2:24,20, with a new time of 2:21,54. Siedentopf came 41st out of 56 swimmers.

Lindemeier broke her own 17/18 year Age Group as well as Open 100m breaststroke record of 1:14,23 with a new time of 1:13,44. She finished 40th out of 56 swimmers.

The Pupkewitz Jetty Mile, proudly sponsored by Pupkewitz Foundation and hosted by Otb Sport will take place in Swakopmund on Monday 27 December. Swimmers can choose between a one mile open water sea swim or the 600m sprint. Unlike prior years, the 2010 event will comprise only of a swim and will end at the Mole, as participants are no longer required to run the mile back to the Tiger Reef Beach Bar.

Daniela Lindemeier and Quinton Delie established new Namibian Open records on the first day of the 10th FINA World Swimming Championship in Dubai on Wednesday.

Lindemeier set a new time of 33,85 seconds in the women’s 50m breaststroke which improved her own 17/18 year old Age Group record of 34,34 seconds as well as Jonay Briedenhann’s Open record of 34,22 seconds.

Lindemeier finished 40th overall out of 80 swimmers who competed in the 50m breaststroke event.

Kari van der Vaart from Dolphins was the best swimmer at Gala 7 and 8 which took place in Windhoek over the weekend, after gaining four places amongst the top ten performances.

Christine Briedenhann of the Namib Swimming Academy set the best overall performance according to the FINA points scoring system, but Van der Vaart was more versatile, with four victories which all ranked amongst the top ten performances.

DHPS won the Pupkewitz Schools Gala, which was held on 29 and 30 October at the Western Suburbs Pool in Windhoek.

DHPS was first in the Primary Schools division with a total of 1 695 points with Windhoek Afrikaans Private skool (WAP) second with 960 points. St Georges was third with 728 points.

In the Secondary Schools division, DHPS was first with 1 008 points with St Pauls second with 475 points and WAP third with 446 points.

Christine Briedenhann broke one Namibian Open record and five age group records at the just ended 10th Senior African Championships in Casablanca, Morocco.

Briedenhann broke her sister, Jonay’s 50m butterfly’s record from 29,86 to 29,57 in the final where she finished seventh.

The General Secretary of the Namibian Swimming Union, Dietlind Siedentopf, was very happy about the record.