Swimming: National Open Championships |10 July 2018

Passon and Rossi claim both Fina and Most Accumulative Points Cup

Record holders Felicity Passon and Samuele Rossi claimed both the Highest International Swimming Federation (Fina) Point Cup and the Most Accumulative Point Cup in their performance at the National Open Swimming Championships which took place at Roche Caiman over the course of three days.

Passon dominated both of her races on Sunday as she managed to finish under a minute in the female 100m freestyle.

She currently holds the national record in this category with a time of 56.90 seconds which she set last year.

She was unable to improve on this record this time around as she ended with a time of 58.87 seconds, two seconds shy of her national record.

She appeared again in the female 200m butterfly where she again took the lead ending with a time of 2 minutes 46.31 seconds, one whole minute ahead of second place Tamera Appasamy who ended with a time of 3 minutes 46.28 seconds.

After her performance in the earlier challenges on Friday and Saturday, Passon won the Most Accumulative Points Cup with a total of 100 points, followed by runner-up Therese Soukup who ended with 62 points while Amy Andre occupied the third spot with 50 points. The Fina Points Cup came from her performance in the female 50m freestyle where she gained 678 points to claim the Highest Fina Points Cup

“It’s a lot of fun to be back in Seychelles and having the opportunity to race here, so I really enjoyed it. I’m very pleased I came out with two trophies. I kind of expected it and that was my aim for the competition, so I’m very pleased to have got the win. My performance was good, but then again it wasn’t that hard because there is not that much competition, but I was really happy to be able and watch the younger swimmers perform,” said Passon.

Rossi on the other hand was also able to claim both trophies after his performance over the course of the three days of competition.

Rossi currently holds the male 200m breaststroke (2:32.60) record which he set back in 2016.

He again made an appearance in this same category on Sunday where he was able to grab the win with a time of 2 minutes 40.72 seconds.

Rossi then performed in a tight affair in the male 100m freestyle. Nevertheless he was able to grab another win under his belt with a time of 55.39 seconds.

Rossi ended an amazing performance in the male 4×50m freestyle relay (1:46.38) along with members from Toto Swimming Club, where he came from behind as the final relay performer to beat Mahé Skimmers Adam Moncherry to hit the plank for the win. This performance allowed Rossi to also grab the Most Accumulative Points Cup as he ended with 66 points followed in second place by Daniel Ferley who received 51 points and Lorenzo Grasselli Barni who finished third with 50 points.

After his performance in the male 50m freestyle, Rossi received 589 points to guarantee him the Fina Points Cup.

“My performance in the competition and winning these two cups is a good sign post for me, showing that I am improving and it also shows that my training is working, so I can continue getting pretty good times. I had a good performance even though I wasn’t ready for it; I had just come out of a competition in Singapore where I set a national record in the 50m breaststroke and still a bit tired from that, but overall I was able to pull through,” said Rossi.

The day also consisted of other races including the male 200m butterfly where Minister for Health Jean-Paul Adam was the victor with a time of 2 minutes 31.59. Aquafins’ Amy Andre was able to grab the win with a time of 3 minutes 20.22 seconds in the female 200m breaststroke.

Therese Soukup had a dominating performance in the female 800m freestyle. After starting the race off quick, Soukup managed to keep an impressive lead throughout the race to end with a time of 9 minutes 44.16, finishing two minutes in front of nearest competitor Naomi Adeline (11:39.15).

Brother Damien and Bertrand Payet also made an appearance where the two dominated the 1500m freestyle, going in a head to head contest for the whole 30 laps. It was younger brother Damien Payet who was able to grab the win as he finished with a time of 17 minutes 33.28 while older brother Bertrand Payet settled for second spot with a time of 17 minutes 38.32. This was also the case in their participation in the second leg of the International Swimming Federation (Fina) Marathon Swim World Series, which was held in Seychelles on May 20, where both brothers managed to finish within the Fina time limit (2:11:55.40 - 2:19:15.90) 

The day ended with a closing remark from Seychelles Swimming Association chairman David Vidot where he thanked all for supporting the swimmers.

He also applauded the continued increase in the number of swimmers each year, which jumped to a total of 64 in 2018.

“I would like to thank everyone involved, including the swimmers, the coaches, the officials, the family members and the clubs, for making this competition a success,” he added.

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Caption:

Felicity Passon, female winner of Highest Fina Points Cup and Most Accumulative Points Cup

Samuele Rossi, male winner of Highest Fina Points Cup and Most Accumulative Points Cup

Jean-Paul Adam (middle), winner of the male 200m butterfly

Amy Andre (middle), winner of the female 200m breaststroke

Therese Soukup (middle), winner of the female 800m freestyle

Winner Damien Payet (middle) alongside brother and runner-up Bertrand Payet (left) in the male 1500m freestyle

Aquafins (middle), female 4×50m freestyle relay winner

Toto (middle), male 4×50m freestyle relay winner Toto