Records tumble as swimming emerges from Covid lockdown

Tendo Mukalazi and sister Kirabo Namutebi were the shining lights as Ugandan swimming beat its struggles to emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown.
The two went to Russia on a Fina scholarship in April to begin their year while the swimmers back home could hardly get a look in for competitions because of the stringent guidelines put in place for the sport to run.

 All Uganda Swimming Federation had had for action in 2021 till the Olympics was an election in which Moses Mwase, who took over after Dr. Donald Rukare was appointed National Council of Sports (NCS) chairman last year, was voted by members as president at the expense of Peter Mugisha.
Competing at the Golden Orlando Swim Meet in Dubrovnik, Croatia put Namutebi in good stead for the Olympics – for which she was selected to hold Uganda’s wild card for a female swimmer ahead of the experienced Avice Meya.
 Swimming in lane eight of the 6th heat in Tokyo – Japan, Namutebi clocked 26.63 seconds to lower her personal best and national record from the 26.98, which she posted at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest.

Her male counterpart Atuhaire Ambala started his preparations at a Cana Camp in South Africa, alongside Adnan Kabuye, in May but was unfortunate to contract Covid-19 weeks to his Olympic 100m freestyle race. He clocked 54.23 which was a bit off his 53.89 personal best and then national record made at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju – South Korea.
To cap Uganda’s performance in Japan, para-swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe, 14, also became a trailblazer posting 1:34.35 personal best in the 100m breaststroke SB8 class heats at the Paralympics, where she was a media sensation both within and outside the pool.

 Africa Championships
While Ambala broke off to continue with his education, the siblings push hard in Kazan, where they also competed at an in-house short course (25m) gala at the Fina Development Centre.
 That set them well for the Africa Junior and Senior Championships in October. Back home, Kukundakwe graced a qualification event for Ghana held at Greenhill Academy in September.

The event allowed the swimming governing body USF to hold mock preparations for the National Championships that were due in November – the first national event for the federation in over 20 months – but also enabled Joshua Lumonya, Steve Magera, Kabuye and female swimmer Swagia Mubiru qualify for Ghana.
The team was completed by Fadhil Saleh, who qualified from the South Africa Short Course Swimming Championships in Pietermaritzburg.

In Ghana, Mukalazi wrote his name in history as the first Ugandan to swim in the finals of a continental senior championship – going one better than Rebecca Ssengonzi who made the finals in the All Africa Games in Morocco in 2019 but scratched the chance.
Mukalazi’s 53.18 time in the 100m free was not only a new national record but was enough to earn him a place as eighth qualifier in the finals.

But that was not even the highlight of the event as Namutebi, 16, clocked 26.26 to win silver in the juniors’ 50m freestyle.
The medal took her total haul at the continental juniors level to four in two editions and Uganda’s to six in three editions. 
She had come into the race as defending champion from the 2019 edition in Tunisia where she clinched gold swimming from the disadvantaged outer lane but South Africa’s Caitlin De Lange, 17, ensured their was no defence with a 26.18. 

Action returns home
When the siblings returned to Kazan, they became the first Ugandans to take part in the Fina World Cup.
Back home, USF were ready to host the National Club Championships at Greenhill at the end of the November, which would double as qualifiers for the Cana Zone III Championships that was later held at Kampala International School of Uganda – Bukoto.

 After a tough Day One, Dolphins overwhelmed their competition with large numbers on Day Two and Three to win their fifth title out of six Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) National Championships.
Dolphins pooled a total of 5,108 points – more than double the 2,207 second-placed Altona garnered to return to the podium for the first time since 2016, and Aquatic Academy, who eventually made the overall podium for the first time with 1,815 points. The other highlight was seeing the growth in the number of para-swimmers from just Kukundakwe to three more in Seals’ nine year old Condoleza Nakazibwe plus the Malta duo of Precious Nankunda, 11, and Hermione Kyeserwa, 12.

From the Nationals, USF selected a 90-man squad to represent the country in Zone III swimming and another 13 for water polo at the beginning of this month.
The squad included Shane Birungi, John Kafumbe, Sophia Nagayi and Karimah Katemba who represented Uganda at the ISF (International Schools Sports Foundation) U-15 World Schools Games in Belgrade – Serbia owing to their performance at the 2019 Federation of Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) Games in Tanzania.

Uganda’s home advantage counted as they won the swimming, open water swimming and water polo zonal competition.
But the highlight of their performance came from captain Kabuye and Lumonya clocking 23.89 and 23.92 in the 17 and over and 15-16 years boys’ 50m free events respectively.
This was the first time a Ugandan swimmer was posting 23 seconds at home. Mukalazi, managed 23.10 at the World Cup in Kazan last month while the hitherto best home performance (24.46) came from Atuhaire Ambala at Nationals 2019.
To prove it was no fluke, the now Iowa-bound Kabuye also made 53.39 - albeit from a silver position - in 100m free surpassing Ambala’s 2019 home-made 53.88. Mukalazi has 50.94 from Russia. 

World Championships
The busy end to the year for USF climaxed in Abu Dhabi, where Jesse Ssengonzi and Avice Meya joined Mukalazi and Namutebi at the short course World Championships from December 17.
US-based Ssengonzi, 19, made the most of his first senior appearance for the Uganda by sinking Arnold Kisulo’s 1:04.28 (100m butterfly) and 27.35 (50m fly) from the 13th Worlds in 2016 in Windsor, Canada – to set new national records of 53.64 and 24.15 respectively at the Etihad Arena.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - RESULTS IN ABU DHABI
Women - Avice Meya
50m backstroke:     31.35
50m butterfly:         29.90
Kirabo Namutebi
50m breaststroke:     33.35
50m freestyle:         26.13
Men - Jesse Ssengonzi
100m butterfly:         53.64
50m butterfly:         24.15
Tendo Mukalazi
50m free:         23.56
100m free:         51.46
Relays:
4*50m mixed freestyle relay: 1:41.54
4*50m mixed medley relay: 1:51.67