DENILSON Cyprianos grabbed gold, beating his own national 100m backstroke record in the Hamilton Aquatics Summer Sizzler 2019 held on Friday and Saturday at Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Cyprianos set the new national record at 59:01 beating his own record of 59:72 which he achieved at the South Africa Junior Nationals in March.
He was swimming in the 17 and overage group.
The national swimmer travelled to Dubai with fellow Stingrays Swimming Academy colleagues Joash Mckonie and Quinton Tayali and the three were accompanied by their coach Eddie Cyprianos, Denilson’s father.
A post on swimzim.org reads: “Denilson Cyprianos, Joash McKonie and Quinton Tayali from Stingrays Swimming Club are currently in Dubai attending the Hamilton Aquatics Summer Sizzler 2019. All three boys have medalled in various events with Denilson winning both gold and a national record in the 100m backstroke. He lowered his own record from 59.72 seconds to 59,01 seconds.”
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Eddie, who together with the boys, arrived back home yesterday was excited with his son’s feat saying the other swimmers had also done well in the competition.
“It’s a great achievement for Denilson. He managed to beat his own record by 71 splits. It is a very good start for the season and the rest of them also had very good times,” Eddie said.
In March at the South Africa Junior Nationals in Durban, Denilson completed the 200m backstroke race in 02:08:64 eclipsing a 17-year-old record of 02:10:40 held by Brendan Ashby.
He is also holder of the 50m national backstroke record of 28:49 seconds achieved at the Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Under-20 Youth Games in Botswana in December last year and beating Peter Wesler’s record of 28:59 seconds set in 2013.
Denilson is set to compete in the eighth edition of the FINA World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August, qualified by his exploits in the AUSC Region Five Under-20 Youth Games last year where he picked up three individual bronze medals and four team medals.