Namutebi, Muzito bag continental medals in Angola

Individual efforts from Gloria Muzito and Kirabo Namutebi lifted Uganda to their best ever performance at the Africa Aquatics Swimming and Open Water Championships held in Luanda, Angola.

Uganda ranked sixth overall in medal counts at the 16th edition with; one gold, one silver and two bronzes – way behind Egypt(47 medals), South Africa (38) and Algeria (25). But the country was the second ranked among those from the Africa Aquatics Zone III with Sudan just ahead with two gold medals.

Muzito got Uganda off to a flyer on April 30 with gold in the women’s 100m freestyle. She qualified for the final at the top of her heat with 57.37 and although she did not get anywhere near her 56.01 personal best (PB), her final time (56.78) that evening was an improvement on the preliminaries’.

Namutebi followed up with the women’s 50m breaststroke bronze on Friday with a 32.99 PB and national record (NR) finishing behind the South Africa duo of Lara van Niekerk (31.05) and Simone Moll (31.29). Namutebi had qualified for the finals with 33.27 – two microseconds better than her previous 33.29 PB.

“It is not what I expected but I am always grateful,” Namutebi said of her performance as she propelled herself to yet another continental medal; two junior medals in 2019 in Tunisia and 50m free silver in Tunisia at the seniors’ edition in 2022.

50m  free battle

The two Ugandan girls then met in the 50m freestyle final on Saturday. Namutebi, 19, qualified with 26.44 from the heats while Muzito, 21, made it with 26.51. In February, the two shared the NR at 26.01 but Namutebi had an opportunity to lower it to 25.44 in March at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Long Course Invitational, where she represented her University of Indianapolis in the same state.

In the finals in Luanda, Algeria’s 31 year old Amel Melih topped the race with 25.73 with Namutebi following just behind at 25.86. Only a personal best was going to get Muzito to the podium and she did so in 25.88.

“I am happy with the swim, a new PB, I will take it as that is the way to end this competition,” Muzito said while Namutebi described the entire competition as “wonderful” and her swim as “a stepping stone for upcoming meets building up to the Olympic Games.”

Namutebi also received kudos from Melih, who showed humility by taking time off her interview to “congratulate Kirabo, a young swimmer and I am sure she is going to have a great career.”

For the men’s side; Jesse Ssengonzi made the finals with a 55.13 as third qualifier, alongside Egypt’s Abdalla Nasr, but his new 54.55 NR in the finals was not enough to earn him a podium finish. Nasr dropped time to 53.49 to win the race while South Africa’s Jarden Eaton came second with 53.57 and Egypt’s Abdel El Rahman Adnan marginally took bronze off Ssengonzi with 54.55.

Tendo Mukalazi finished the competition with 52.89 in his 100m freestyle and also marginally missed the 50m free finals with 23.93.