In his 50-metre freestyle race, Ethani Ssengooba, 14, stopped the clock in a time of 25.47 seconds, wiping away Elisha Tibatemwa’s 26.14 that was swum at the FINA World Championship in Turkey in December 2012.
Gloria Muzito, 20, who is based in the USA, dropped a new national record time of 56.01 seconds in the 100-metre freestyle. Muzito’s duel with Kirabo Namutebi, 18, got a fully-packed Kampala Parents School stadium on edge. The tension hit fever-pitch in their 50-metre freestyle contest, where Muzito emerged winner in a new national record time of 25.55 secs, with Namutebi coming second in a personal best time of 25.82 secs.
It was the first time that Namutebi lost both her signature 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle at these championships. Adnan Kabuye, 20, had a rough outing on his return to Uganda’s pools after one year of studies in the USA, winning only two gold medals in his seven individual races.
Charlotte Sanford, who is based in the United Kingdom, faced off with Karimah Katemba in another of foreign versus local talent con- tests in the girls aged 15-16 years. Theirs was evenly matched, with Sanford sweeping all the breast stroke races while Katemba won most of the freestyle races.
Overall, there was a sense of nostalgia hovering at the competitions venues as some swimmers returned to this competition after some time away. Raphael Sine, 18, who studies in the USA, last competed here in 2018. He won the overall age-group for 17 years and over after collecting five individual gold medals.
In 2019, Kaumi Tendo quit the sport. The 17-year-old returned to training at the end of last year and managed to collect a couple of gold medals.
There were also former top swimmers who showed up as spectators. Arnold Kisulo, Selina Katumba, Neema Kangi, Alexis Kituuka – who dominated the sport for years – appeared at the venue.
Back in the pool, swimmers broke records for fun in the boys’ 13 – 14 age group. Usadadiya Heer bettered his 200-metre freestyle record with a new time of 2:12.65. He did the same in the 200-metre backstroke, improving his previous record by more than five seconds to 2:21.71.
Heer then set a new age-group record in the 100-metre backstroke in a time of 1:06.48. Daniel Rukundo hit a new age group record time of 1:13.13 in the 100-metre breast stroke. He followed that up with a 2:41.66 in the 200-metre breast stroke, nearly five seconds faster than the previous record.
Isaiah Kuc set a new national record in the 100-metre freestyle with 58.34 seconds. Infact, the first four swimmers in this race beat Paulsen Settumba’s record of 59.53 set at this championship four years ago.
Tara Kisawuzi remains a force of nature. She won the girls’ 13 –14 years category and set a new national age group record of 1:01.07 in the 100-metre freestyle.
Pendo Kaumi was the overall winner in the newly-formed 15-16 age group, and we can safely say that he probably owns most of the records there. Marc Kaliisa won the boys 10 years and under age group, beating his closest rival, Elijah Ayesiga. Daniella Munguci did just enough to win the girls 10 years and under age group. No record fell in this age group.
Jaguar Swim Club’s Zara Mbanga had to dig deep to beat her teammate Peyton Suubi and Altona’s Abigail Mwagale to the overall trophy in the 11-12-year age groups for the girls.
Mbanga swept all her breast-stroke races, bettering her own national age group record in the 100-metre with a new time of 1:19.71. Suubi set a new age-group national record in the 200-metre butterfly in a time of 2:40.89.
In the 50 metre-freestyle, Mwagale swam a solid 29.62 seconds and came close to beating Kirabo Namutebi’s age group record of 29.06 that was set at the CANA Africa Zone 3 championships in Tanzania in October 2017.
The same age group record got a similar scare in the boys’ category after Jerome Matsiko swam an impressive 29.10, narrowly close to Ruben White’s 28.94 set at the Uganda Independence gala in October 2017. It was a close call in the boys’ category as Elijah Wamala, Adriel Lumu and Hakim Abdou traded the first position in different races.
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