Records broken at Bank Windhoek’s Namibian National Championships

WINDHOEK, Feb. 27 – This past weekend saw several records being broken at the Bank Windhoek National Swimming Championships held in Windhoek. The much anticipated swimming tournament saw 164 swimmers participate in 1 423 events over four days and concluded with prize-giving at the Olympia Swimming Pool in Windhoek on Sunday.

Record breakers: From left to right, Oliver Ohm, Quinn Ellis, Jose Canjulo, Nico Esslinger and Daniel Lasso-Drews, celebrated their record in style.

This year, records were smashed in the 200 metre relay events. Nico Esslinger, Quinn Ellis, Oliver Ohm and José Canjulo, broke the 200 metre Freestyle Relay in a time of 2:03.19. The previous record was set six years ago and stood at 2:07.23. Daniel Lasso-Drews, Quinn Ellis, Oliver Ohm and Jose Canjulo, also broke another record in the 200 metre Medley Relay in a time of 2:23.32. The previous record stood at 2:27.52 and was set three years ago.Victoria Ellmies and Heleni Stergiadis, share the Single Best Performance Trophy. Ellmies is awarded the trophy for her 200 metre Freestyle and Heleni Stergiadis for the 200 metre Medley with each swimmer having accrued 589 International Swimming Federation (FINA) points.
“It is an honour to win this award. I would like to thank my coach, parents and all my team mates for encouraging and supporting me all the way,” said Ellmies.
Stergiadis was thankful and could not hide her excitement. “I am so proud of myself. We have been practicing really hard for the past few weeks and it paid off. Thanks to my dad and coach for motivating me to keep on swimming and thank God for keeping the light in my life,” said Stergiadis.
The Single Best Performance Trophy is awarded to swimmers that achieve the highest number of FINA points in one single event during the championships. This is the same trophy won by Monica Dahl in 1988. Dahl is one of the first Namibian swimmers to compete at the Summer Olympics. She represented Namibia at the 1992 and the 1996 Games.

Proud: from left to right, Victoria Ellmies and Heleni Stergiadis, proudly display their achievement. They won the Single Best Performance Trophy as a joint prize.

“Thank you Bank Windhoek for your continued support. This has allowed us to have our yearly National Long Course Championships. We are very happy with the results achieved by the swimmers considering the fact that they are not fully tapered. They are in the midst of the preparing for the upcoming international meets including the African Swimming Confederation (CANA) Zone 4 in Malawi and the South African Junior Nationals slated to take place next month,” said Namibia Swimming Union’s (NASU) Spokesperson, Jurie Badenhorst.

“What we have seen over the past few days, makes us very proud,” concluded Badenhorst.
Victor and Victrix Ludorum Awards were also presented to the best swimmers at the tournament. They are:
Junior Victor Ludorum 14/under
First Prize: Jose Canjulo – 168 points
Second Prize: Mikah Burger – 153 points
Third Prize: Oliver Durand – 109 points

Senior Victor Ludorum
First Prize: Ronan Wantenaar – 2848 FINA points
Second Prize: Corne Le Roux – 2559 FINA points
Third Prize: Jorn Diekmann – 2463 FINA points

Junior Victrix Ludorum 14/under
First Prize: Viktoria Ellmies – 155 points
Second Prize: Tiana Esslinger – 133 points
Third Prize: Danielle Mostert – 96 points

Senior Victrix Ludorum
First Prize: Heleni Stergiadis – 2922 FINA points
Second Prize: Viktoria Ellmies – 2709 FINA points
Third Prize: Joanne Liebenberg – 2657 FINA points
Aqua Swimming Club, Dolphins Swimming Club, Marlins Swimming Club, Namib Swim Academy, Oranjemund Sand Sharks, Swakopmund Swimming Club and Lechwe Swimming Club from Zambia, participated in the tournament. Dolphins Swimming Club scooped the Best Team award. – NDN Staffer