Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
RISING swimmer Alexis Johnsen continues to shine at the big stage as she made her presence felt when claiming three medals at the African Youth Games in Angola.
Johnsen was part of the 14 swimmers who made up Team Zimbabwe at the Games.
The curtain will come down on the Games today.
But the swimmers returned home on Thursday after completing their competition and having contributed five medals — one gold, one silver and three bronze — for Team Zimbabwe.
Johnsen picked up three medals including a gold medal in the 50m freestyle with a time of 27.00 seconds, setting a new national record in the long course pool. The previous record was 27.25 seconds.
Prior to winning a gold, she had picked up two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle.
The other medals came from the girls’ 4x100m freestyle relay team that won a silver.
Johnsen was part of the team that also included Kristin Jones, Meema Bhulabhayi and Ruvarashe Choto.
The boys’ 4x100m medley relay team consisting of JWes Jared, Nathan Chibva, Sibusiso Fayayo and Kwandokuhle Nkomazana got bronze.
For Johnsen, she underlined her status as one of the promising swimmers for the future.
Zimbabwe Swimming chairperson Zanele Nkomazana credited Johnsen’s hard work for her outstanding performance.
“I think she’s hit a mark where we are confident she’s going to make the Youth Olympic Games.
“She has worked for it, breaking that 50m free record that was broken, I think, two years ago. It shows that she went fast . . . You rarely get such records.
“Remember, we have got two sets of records for long course, for the 50m pool and for the 25m pool. The 50m records are not easy but she swam past that.
“Obviously, our best-performing athlete was Alexis Johnsen. We were not surprised she has been working very hard for this,” said Nkomazana.
Nkomazana, however, said they were hoping for more from the rest of the team.
“I must say, the standard from our swimmers is not what we expected it to be, especially for the boys. We need to up our game.
“Having sent 14 swimmers, we expected about 15 medals, but we were short of 10, we got five.
“Disappointments, yes, here and there, especially on the girls’ relays because our girls were strong. We could have picked medals from all relays for the girls. But unfortunately, we only got one.
“The reports coming, obviously, from Angola were that the swimmers were not getting the rest and the good sleep because of the accommodation and the environment there.
“So, on the first days they struggled because swimming is a rest sport . . . That was the disadvantage,” said Nkomazana.
Johnsen has posted encouraging performances this year when it comes to national duty, having previously picked several medals at the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games in Namibia in July and at the Africa Aquatics Zone IV Championships in Eswatini in September.
She was part of the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay teams that got bronze at the Africa Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Egypt, between April and May.
