Swimming-Shrone Austin grabs two gold medals |08 August 2011

Yesterday, Shrone Austin won the 200m IM record in 2 minutes 25.62 seconds (2:25.62). Second was Reunionnais Alizéee Morel with 2:26.29 followed in third place by Mauritian Elodie Poo Cheong with 2:29.72.

Shrone’s first gold medal win came on day one of the competition – Saturday – in the 400m IM, clocking 5:04.54. Her younger sister Shannon won silver with 5:08.14.  Shrone also collected a bronze in the 100m breaststroke with 1:17.56. Reunionnais Geraldine Huffner (1:13.44) and Louise Lebrun (1:17.10) were first and second.

Seychelles’ other four bronze medals were won by the women’s 4x100m medley relay team of Shrone Austin, Shannon Austin, Aurelie Fanchette and Anisha Payet in 4:57.46, men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team of Shane Mangroo, Bertrand Bristol, Claude Adeline and Steven Mangroo (3:47.07), women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team of Shrone Austin, Shannon Austin, Aurelie Fanchette and Anisha Payet in 4:18.80, and the men’s 4x100m medley relay team of Claude Adeline, Pierre-André Adam, Bristol and Adrian Nanty with 4:18.10.

Reunion came in first in the women’s 4x100m medley relay in 4:29.93 followed by Madagascar in 4:52.71.

They also won the men’s 4x100m medley relay in 3:59.97 with Mauritius finishing second in 4:09.24.

Victory in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay went to Reunion with 3:31.73 and Mauritius finished second with 3:43.87.

Mauritius dominated the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay with a time of 4:01.17 followed in second position by Reunion with 4:02.93.

Other Seychellois swimmers – Ryan Govinden, Claude Adeline, Clara Omath, Anisha Payet, Aurelie Fanchette, Bertrand Bristol, Shane Mangroo and others – were clearly outsmarted by the superior Reunion and Mauritian swimmers, who appear well-trained and more experienced.

A total of 12 records were broken during the first two days of competition. The record breakers were Shrone Austin of Seychelles (400m IM in 5:04.54, old best 5:11.37), Bobe Alan of Reunion (50m backstroke in 28.65 seconds, old best was 29.27 seconds), Heather Arseth of Mauritius (50m backstroke in 31.32 seconds, old best was 31.91 seconds), Cécile Vitry of Reunion (100m butterfly in 1:04.33, old best was 1:05.71), Geraldine Huffner of Reunion (100m breaststroke in 1:13.44, old best was 1:15.02), the Mauritian women’s 4x100m relay team (4:01.17, old best was 4:04.06), Boris Steimetz of Reunion (100m freestyle in 50.77 seconds, old best was 51.16 seconds), Olivia De Maroussem of Mauritius (100m freestyle in 59.32 seconds, old best was 59.42 seconds), Boris Steimetz of Reunion (200m IM in 2:08.69, old best was 2:09.58), Emma Morel of Reunion (50m butterfly in 29.14 seconds, old best was 31.12 seconds), Stephanie Ah-Quah of Mauritius (200m backstroke in 2:29.44, old best was 2:31.93), and the Reunion women’s 4x100m medley relay team (4:29.93, old best was 4:35.77).

J. L.