Kukundakwe lowers African records in Italy

Husnah Kukundakwe earned a silver medal and got closer to confirming her place at the 2024 Paris Paralympics by outdoing herself at the March 14-17 Citi Para Swimming World Series in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.
 
Kukundakwe completed her eight races by hitting three Minimum Entry Times (MET) for Paris, lowering five African records that she previously held and earning a silver medal from the youth final of the 50m freestyle event.
 
The SB8 swimmer entered the freestyle with 33.47 seconds as entry time then lowered it to 33.43 in the preliminaries to beat the 35.52 African record (AR) that was confirmed as hers in May last year. Her new time did not only beat the Paris MET (34.48) but also allowed her to compete in the youth final, where she finished second with a 33.56.
 
In the 100m freestyle – her first event of the championship, Kukundakwe, 16, lowered her AR from 1:25.04 to 1:18.27 finishing fifth overall in her class.
 
In the 100m breaststroke, Kukundakwe topped her class with 1:29.80 which is also lower than the Paris MET of 1:31.61 even though it was not better than her 1:29.32 personal best (PB).
 
She also topped her class in the 50m breaststroke with a 40.93 AR but this is not a Paralympic event for her class. Her 200m breaststroke time was 3:19.64 on the final day of the competition.
 
Before that, she also lowered her ARs in the 50m fly (37.12) and 100m fly (1:29.75) thereby beating the Paris MET (1:34.00) in the latter. Her SM8 200m individual medley (IM) return was 3:07.80.
 
Citi Para Swimming World Series, Italy
Kukundakwe’s Performance
100m free –1:18.27 (AR)
50m freestyle – 33.43 (AR, MET, prelims), 33.56 (finals, silver)
100m breaststroke –1:29.80 (MET)
50m breaststroke – 40.93 (AR)
50m butterfly – 37.12 (AR)
200m individual medley – 3:07.80
100m butterfly – 1:29.75 (AR, MET)
200m breaststroke – 3:19.64