Swimming: Laird, Mangroo receive top honours |09 January 2016

Alexus Laird and Steven Mangroo have been named the top female and male swimmers for the year 2015 after claiming medals in international competitions.

If you had mentioned the name Alexus Laird a few days before the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) got underway in Reunion last year, no one would have been able to tell you who she is.

Based in the United States and a member of the Carmel club, the backstroke specialist has now become a household name when it comes to Seychelles swimming after some great performances since deciding to represent the country.

At the IOIG in 2015, Alexus was the winner of seven medals – three gold, two silver and two bronze. All her gold medals came in the backstroke events – 50m (29.48 seconds), 100m (1:03.52) and 200m (2:20.79) – and the times recorded went down as Seychelles and Games’ records.

Laird, who took part in the Fina World Swimming Championship in Kazan, Russia, also competed at the All-Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville where she won the 50m backstroke bronze medal with a time of 30.07 seconds.

She also broke a number of Seychelles records at both the IOIG and All-Africa games.

Named best female swimmer in 2015, Felicity Passon is the runner-up for the senior award and she has also been chosen as the best young female swimmer for the 2015 season.

She won 10 medals – five silver and five bronze – at the IOIG in Reunion in 2015. The holder of four long course and six short course Seychelles records took part in the Fina World Swimming Championship in Kazan, Russia, the Fina World Junior Swimming Championship in Singapore, and the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa where she qualified for the A and B finals of all the events she took part in.

At the South West shorts course championship in the United Kingdon, Passon was a gold medallist in the 4x100m relay, silver medallist in the 50m butterfly and bronze medallist in the 50m backstroke.

She also swam at the Thanyapura Invitational Swim Meet in Phuket, Thailand, claiming five gold medals in the 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly before finishing second in the 200m freestyle to be ranked runner-up to the winner of the 15 years old age group.

When she competed in the Federation of British International School in Asia (Forbisia) short course swimming championship in Bangkok, Thailand, Passon claimed one gold medal in the 200m freestyle, three silver in 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly, as well as a bronze in 200m butterfly to finish as the top overall team winner in the 15 years age group.

Back in the pool after a long absence, Steven Mangroo also returned as male swimmer of the year after claiming four bronze medals in the 400m freestyle, 1,500m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relays at the IOIG in Reunion in 2015.

Chosen as runner-up to Mangroo, former Young Male Athlete of the Year Adam Viktora was part of the 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay teams who won bronze medals at the IOIG in Reunion in 2015.

The best young male swimmer for the year 2015 is Samuele Rossi.

Although he did not win any medal at the IOIG in Reunion, Rossi broke three breaststroke national records over three distances – 50m, 100m and 200m – during the course of the 2015 season.

S. N.