Africa: Osman Breaks African Record Twice, Becomes 3rd Finalist of ’17

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Full Competition Schedule
• Meet Info
• Psych Sheets
• Omega Results
• Pick ’em Contest
• Event-by-Event Previews

Farida Osman broke her own continental record in both heats and semifinals of the women’s 50 fly, and scraped into the final to become Africa’s third finalist of the 2017 World Championships.

It’s been tough sledding for Africa as a continent, with a number of tough breaks keeping the finalist/semifinalist count low. Here’s a look at a few of the coulda-woulda-shoulda moments through the first six days:

• Farida Osman 17th in 100 fly heats, misses semis by .01
• Marwan el-Kamash 9th in 400 free heats, misses final by .22
• Cameron van der Burgh scratches 100 breast heats (two-time defending silver medalist)
• Chad le Clos scratches 200 free heats (defending Olympic silver medalist)
• Ahmed Akaram 9th in 800 free heats, misses final by .44
• Mohamed Khaled 17th in 200 IM heats, misses semis by .45
• Mohamed Sahnoune 9th in 100 free semis, misses final by .02
• Ali Khalafalla T-18th in 50 free heats, misses semis by .05
• Oussama Sahnoune 20th in 50 free heats, misses semis by .09
• Chad le Clos 12th in 100 fly semifinal, misses finals by .18 (two-time defending world champ)

2017 could have legitimately been a major breakthrough year for the continent as a whole with a few more tenths in each event. But as it is, it’s been a pretty big sign of progress that three different nations (South Africa, Egypt, Algeria) have been so close to finals appearances when only 6 countries in African history have had a finalist at Worlds.

Osman highlighted the day with twin African and Egyptian records in the 50 fly. She went 25.74 in heats and 25.73 in semis, and she needed every tenth to make the final. Osman finished 8th in semis, just .03 ahead of 9th place. She becomes just the third African finalist at these World Championships, joining South Africans le Clos and van der Burgh.

Osman’s old African record was 25.78 from the 2015 World Championships, where she finished 5th.

AFRICAN RECAP

NATIONAL RECORDS, DAY 6

• African & Egyptian record – Farida Osman – women’s 50 fly – 25.74 (heats) & 25.73 (semis)
• Egyptian record – Marwan el-Kamash/Mohamed Samy/Ahmed Akaram/Marwan el-Amrawy – men’s 4×200 free relay – 7:16.95
• Burundian record – Belly-Cresus Ganira – men’s 50 free – 25.32
• Mauritian record – Bradley Vincent – men’s 50 free – 22.82
• Beninese record – Nafissath Radji – women’s 50 fly – 42.12

DAY 6 Cumulative MEDALS/FINALISTS – AFRICA

Finalists:

• Chad le Clos (South Africa) – Gold – 200 fly
• Cameron van der Burgh (South Africa) – bronze – 50 breast
• Farida Osman (Egypt) – qualified 8th – 50 fly

Semifinalists:

• Oussama Sahnoune (Algeria) – 9th place – 100 free
• Myles Brown (South Africa) – 14th – 200 free
• Marwan el-Kamash (Egypt) – 16th – 200 free
• Chad le Clos (South Africa) – 12th – 100 fly