Indiana’s El Kamash, Khalafalla Impress at Egyptian Nationals

2016 EGYPTIAN NATIONALS

• Results
• Tuesday, November 22nd-Saturday, November 26th
• 50 meters
• Championship format

The 2016 Egyptian National Championships are in the books, as the competition started on Tuesday and concluded this afternoon. A pair of NCAA swimmers for the Indiana Hoosiers returned home for the meet, bringing home several medals between the two of them. One of those swimmers was Marwan El Kamash, a 2016 Olympian and Egyptian National Record holder.

El Kamash’s most impressive swims were arguably the 200 free and 400 free, where he won gold with times of 1:49.58 and 3:49.48 respectively. He also swept the butterflies with a 54.55 in the 100 fly and 2:01.19 in the 200 fly, and won the 800 free in a speedy 8:04.61.

El Kamash’s Hoosier teammate, Ali Khalafalla, also won mutliple golds. First he won the 50 free, blasing a 22.35 to come within a tenth of his own Egyptian National Record of 22.25 that he set at this summer’s Rio Olympic Games. His next gold came in the 100 back, where he posted a 56.71 to out-touch Marwan Zakar (56.92). In addition to those medals, Khalafalla won gold in the 50 fly with his 24.50, and was the bronze medalist in the 100 free, where he touched in 50.51 behind gold medalist Mohamed Samy (50.33) and silver medalist Salem Ihab (50.51).

On the women’s side, May Atef Abdelfata was a force to be reckoned with in the sprints, winning 3 of the 4 stroke 50s. She took gold in both the 50 breast and 100 breast, clocking times of 32.83 and 1:12.72 in those races respectively. She also brought home wins with her 27.07 in the 50 free and 28.33 in the 50 fly.

Mariam Abdel-Rahman was equally dominant, picking up 4 golds of her own. She swept the IM races, posting winning times of 2:24.01 in the 200 IM and 5:07.45 in the 400 IM. She won the 100 fly by over 2 seconds, clocking a 1:03.11. She also reeled in 200 fly gold, finishing in 2:17.18 to win by a huge margin of 11 seconds.