XV CANA SENIOR AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- August 20th – August 25th
- Tunis, Tunisia
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 2021 CANA African Senior Swimming Championships took place from August 20th to August 25th at the Menzah Olympic Pool in Tunis, Tunisia.
This is typically a biannual meet; however, the 2020 edition was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, a combined senior/junior edition was held in Ghana, with the nation of South Africa handily topping the overall swimming medal table with a total of 60 pieces of hardware, including 26 gold.
South Africa once again topped the swimming medal table, but this time around the nation claimed 40 pieces of hardware, with 22 gold. Algeria wound up in the runner-up spot with 26 total medals, including 10 golds, while Egypt rounded out the top 3 finishers with 30 medals but just 7 golds.
There were several swimmers who dominated in multiple events to help their nations soar in the swimming standings.
For South Africa, 21-year-old Inge Weidemann proved to be a formidable force in the women’s sprints. She topped the 50m free and 100m free in respective efforts of 25.75 and 57.20. Weidemann also topped the 50m fly race with a mark of 27.28.
Weidemann’s teammate Emily Visagie carried the momentum into the breaststroke events, riding the current success of countrymates Tatjana Schoenmaker and Lara van Niekerk.
Visagie swept the discipline in Tunisia over the course of the meet, producing times of 33.22 in the 50m, 1:11.49 in the 100m and 2:34.33 in the 200m. The 24-year-old also topped the women’s 200m IM, producing a time of 2:19.69 to just out-touch fellow South African Trinity Hearne who scored 2:19.85 to make it a 1-2 punch.
Jaouad Syoud was a one-man wrecking ball for the Algerian squad, wrapping up golds in the 50m/100m/200m breast, 200m butterfly and 200m/400m IM events.
Incuded in the aforementioned accomplishments, 22-year-old Syoud established new championship records in the 50m (28.00) and 100m breast (1:01.18), with the latter also checking as a national record.
South Africa wound up being the relay master topping the podium in all but the men’s 800m free relay and men’s 400m free relay. Egyptian foursomes got their hands on the wall ahead of South Africa in those events.
