Swimming-Passon, Viktora register wins in two meets |05 July 2012
In the first competition, Viktora won the 14 and over category’s 1,500m freestyle race in a time of 18 minutes 23.42 seconds (18:23.42). Second was Dean Hoffman (18:56.54), third Ryan Govinden (19:26.89), fourth Luke Bonnelame (20:36.46), fifth Milun Dhanjee (22:07.84) and sixth Hayden Ah Wan (22:25.03).
Viktora again dominated his opponents in the two individual medley (IM) races of the second competition run by the newly elected Seychelles Swimming Association (SSA) chaired by former swimmer Bertrand Belle.
The 15-year-old won the 200m IM in 2:32.89, finishing ahead of 17-year-old Ryan Govinden (2:42.16), Dean Hoffman (2:46.24), Pierre-André Adam (2:46.86), Claude Adeline (2:46.94), Joel Bacco (2:56.99), Milun Dhanjee (3:01.00), Ron Roucou (3:05.75), Justin Payet (3:35.13), Malik Govinden (3:52.04), Julius Banane (4:13.61) and Ian Nibourette (4:51.82). He also triumphed in the 400m IM in 5:27.38, relegating Dean Hoffman (5:42.90), Ryan Govinden (5:46.70) and Milun Dhanjee (6:51.18) into second, third and fourth places.
Up-and-coming Felicity Passon also collected three wins. She clocked 11:21.31 in the 800m freestyle in the girls’ 11-13 years old category to finish ahead of Zoe Barois (13:19.85), Leyla Rigamonti (13:23.08), Nicole Grasselli Barni (13:27.20), Valentina Madejska (13:42.81) and Sophie Bouchereau (14:02.60).
The 12-year-old then moved up to the 14 and over division for the two IM races – 200m and 400m. In the shorter distance, she clocked 2:53.27 as Anisha Payet (3:04.48), Clara Omath (3:08.11), Melissa Jeanne (3:16.6) and Maria Marzocchi (3:38.26) occupied second to fifth positions.
Passon was again the strongest in the 400m IM, touching the wall in 6:04.38, 30.43 seconds faster than runner-up Anisha Payet (6:34.81). Clara Omath (6:43.64) and Melissa Jeanne (6:47.34) were the two other competitors in this race.
Viktora’s eight-year-old sister Thérèse Soukoup was a double gold medallist, clinching first place in the girls’ 10 and under age group’s 400m freestyle in 7:33.98 and 200m IM in 3:56.83.
Anya Rigamonti (7:55.58) and Valentina Rigamonti (8:03.98) were second and third in the 400m freestyle. They finished in the same order in the 200m IM – Anya (4:03.30) and Valentina (4:12.40) – while Charlotte Passon claimed fourth place with 4:15.43.
Another swimmer who collected two wins is Samuele Rossi, winning the boys’ 11-13 years old category’s 800m freestyle in 13:38.37 and the 200m IM in 3:33.29. The other five places in the 200m IM were occupied by Keith Folette (3:57.59), Jeremie Morel (4:22.56), Dean Sanders (4:35.70), Sebastien Contoret (4:54.23) and Daniel Prosper (5:51.93).
Zoe Barois finished first in the girls’ 11-13 years old division’s 200m IM, stopping the clock at 3:17.65 followed by Leyla Rigamonti (3:20.23), Nicole Grasselli Barni (3:32.49), Martina Ceccato (3:38.48) and Sophie Bouchereau (3:50.20).
Bertrand Payet was the fastest swimmer in the 200m IM for boys in the 10 and under category, finishing the race in 3:54.77. Damien Payet (4:23.31), Lorenzo Grasselli Barni (4:28.21), Poly Bacco (5:17.17), Dominique Labrosse (5:30.24) and Daniel Ferley (5:37.94) were ranked second to sixth respectively.
Hayden Ah Wan triumphed in the 200m IM for boys in the 10 years old division with a winning time of 3:13.61. He finished 5.19 seconds ahead of his twin brother Lenel Ah Wan (3:18.80).
The girls’ 14 years and over 1,500m freestyle race contested by seven swimmers was won by Aurelie Fanchette in 21:10.26. She was followed by Anisha Payet (22:05.63), Clara Omath (22:43.76), Melissa Jeanne (24:19.32), Alice Rigamonti (26:49.97), Lara Prosper (26:56.55) and Julia Joubert (27:24.42).
All top-three finishers received medals and the SSA would like to thank all swimmers from the different training groups – national team, junior team, and stroke improvement – officials and parents for their support.
Meanwhile, the next competition –middle distance age group – is scheduled for Friday July 13, starting at 4.30pm at the Roche Caïman pools.