THE Zimbabwe swimming team travelled to Budapest, Hungary, yesterday ahead of the upcoming World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
The swimming gala will run from October 20 to 22 with Zimbabwe fielding three athletes — Paige Van Der Westhuzien, Liam O'Hara and Benjamin Rorke.
Van Der Westhuzien will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events while O'Hara will participate in 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events and 200m medley.
Rorke, who is new on the global stage, will take part in 50m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 50m and 100m freestyle.
The World Cup has been a three-gala event staged in three different venues, that is, in Berlin (Germany) from October 6 to 8, Athens (Greece) from October 13 to 15 with the last leg set for Budapest with most top swimmers competing in all these galas.
The event will be held on 50m pools and all meets will serve as the qualifying events for the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, next year and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
O’Hara, who will be in charge of the team for this meet, said that the athletes had prepared well for the leg of the World Cup.
“Preparations have been good, and all three athletes are training outside the country. Paige is in Scotland and will be leaving on the 19th and join us in Hungary while Liam and Ben have been training in Pretoria," O'Hara said.
"Benjamin hasn't been at a world event, he's been to Africa regional games and so for him it's going to be a great experience. Any times that the athletes will gain at this event will be registered in the World Aquatics database which leads to the selection and qualification for meets. Liam and Paige are old, seasoned warriors and the former has attended two Junior World Championships while the latter has also attended World Championships. They have both done African Games and have won medals and they are fairly seasoned as far as experience goes, but it's good to race under these circumstances where they will be competing with the best."
O'Hara also highlighted that the main goal for these events was orienting swimmers towards the upcoming World Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
"There are a number of events coming up helping towards Paris 2024. We have the World Championships selection to be held in South Africa leading to the Olympics. The event itself is normally 25m short course event but this year it's going to be 50m pool because of the qualifying criteria needed for the Olympics.”