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In the final seven 200-metre sprint events of the competition, the South African paddlers equipped themselves well and won four silver medals in the men’s events and another three in the women’s events.
“We realise the huge importance and role that events like the African Sprint Championships play in growing young paddlers,” Canoeing SA president Christo Horn said.
“Opportunities like this are a great chance for us to showcase the talent that is emerging from the previously disadvantaged areas and with such a successful showing from our athletes we are confident that we have been able to spot some new rising stars.”
The seven silver medals claimed by the South Africans on the final day of competition were added to the three gold’s and four previous silver medals.
The final day of competition saw Martin van den Bergh add to his silver medal from the first day, scooping the runners-up position behind Mohamed Ali Mrabet from Tunisia for the second time during the competition.
In the Junior Men’s K2 200m final, the race was closely fought between Eduan Dippenaar and Carlton Tashantsha when they narrowly lost out to the Tunisian pair by just over half a second. This was to be Dippenaar’s second silver medal of the day to go after his second place finish in the Junior Men’s 200m K1 final.
The impressive Kayla de Beer managed to increase her personal medal tally when she won the silver medal in the Junior Women’s K1 200m, after she produced a stellar performance to win the gold medal in the Junior Women’s 500m K2 race the previous day with partner Nokhaya Shange.
Luke Stowman and Joseph Williams collected their second combined silver medal in the Men’s 200m K2 final behind the Tunisian pair of Firas Zanzouri and Mihamed Ali Mrabet.
Brittany Petersen and Nombuso Mzolo paired up in the women’s K2 200m final to claim their second silver medals of the competition. Petersen had earlier taken the second prize in the women’s K1 500m final and Mzolo had secured the silver medal in the women’s K2 500m final with Melanie van Niekerk.
Van Niekerk was another paddler who took home her second silver medal of the championships after she lost out to Afef Ben Isamail of Tunisia by the slightest of margins in the final of the women’s 200m K1 race.
It was an impressive showing from a young, inexperienced South African side which did not boast one paddler outside the under-23 age category.
It was also a chance for a number of the paddlers who had not been out of the country before to experience the environment of an international event.
Junior Men’s 200m K1
1 Karim Emad Abdelsamie(EGY) 42.969
2 Eduan Dippenaar (RSA) 44.280
3 Yassine Belhaj Mohamed (TUN) 44.921
Men’s Marathon K1
1 Mohamed Ali Mrabet (TUN) 14:40.672
2 Martin van den Bergh (RSA) 14:47.585
3 Abderrahmane Ould Kaddour (ALG) 15:45.367
Junior Men’s 200m K2
1 Bassem Zanzouri (TUN) 56.913
2 Eduan Dippenaar/Carlton Tashantsha (RSA) 59.343
3 Akrameddine Keddi Abdelkader/Oussama Djabali (ALG) 01:02.749
Men’s 200m K2
1 Firas Zanzouri/Mohamed Ali Mrabet (TUN) 00:36.691
2 Luke Stowman/Joseph Williams (RSA) 00:37.773
3 Nasreddine Baghdadi/Zakaria Djabli (ALG) 00:39.979
Junior Women’s 200m K1
1 Mennatalla Hassan ali (EGY) 00:57.226
2 Kayla de Beer (RSA) 00:58.838
3 Nour Trigui (TUN) 00:59.820
Women’s 200m K2
1 Abir Ben Isamail/Afef Ben Isamail (TUN) 00:49.321
2 Brittany Petersen/Nombuso Mzolo (RSA) 00:51.979
3 Mai Ahmed ibrahim/Sama Farouk ibrahim (EGY) 00:56.288
Women’s 200m K1
1 Afef Ben Isamail (TUN) 00:52.132
2 Melanie van Niekerk (RSA) 00:52.335
3 Kathia Bra (SEN) 00:54.619
– Sapa
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