Kenya's Neo Olengo has set sights on the Africa Swimming Championship after a superb display in the CANA Zone 3 show in Tanzania.
The Seahorses-based swimmer said the best is yet to come. "This was my second year in CANA and I am glad to have done the country proud. My focus is now on the Africa Championship and hopefully, Olympics and World Championships in the years to come,” he added.
Olengo was in dominant form, winning seven gold in the four-day championship.
He started his haul with gold in the 50m breaststroke in 34.88; 100m breaststroke in 1:19.56 and 200m breaststroke in 2:52:31.
He then followed it up with gold in the 50m butterfly (30:33) then bagged gold in the 100m in 1:10:58. Two more gold medals followed in the 12 and under individual medley in 2:37.65 and the boys' 12 and under 50m freestyle, where he clocked 29.41.
Other gold medal winners included Aker Mutinda in the boys' 15-16 50m and 100m butterfly events; Nathan Matimu (100m freestyle), Ali Lubaina (200m individual medley) and girls' 15-16 over 200m freestyle with Marion Alala winning gold in 12 and under 200m individual medley race.
Team Kenya finished second overall with 2768 points as hosts Tanzania carried the day with 3061 points. Uganda came home third with 2521 points as Zambia and South Africa rounded the top five with 1878 points and 1385 respectively.
Team manager Maureen Owiti said Kenya would have won more medals if they had fielded more swimmers. Team Kenya had 43 swimmers while hosts Tanzania had over 70 swimmers.
“By virtue of being hosts Tanzania had a bigger squad than ours but I must give credit to the boys and girls who have done the country proud," said Owiti. He added that Kenya had improved from its third-place position last year in Kampala