• Sports

Young Namibian swimmer sets new national record

Enzo Amuele

Young Namibian swimmer Mikah Burger set a new record at the Grand Prix in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in the boys’ 15-16 100m butterfly.

The performance made Burger (16) qualify for the Fina Junior World Championships as he outperformed himself with a new personal best time of 58.21 seconds compared to his last best of 59.70.

It also broke Lushano Lamprecht’s national record that he had set seven years ago.

Burger started training at the age of two in the Learn to Swim programme at the Dolphins swimming club in Windhoek.

Burger, who enjoys all water sports, trains with coach Janis Stergiadis six days a week. He swims for two hours in the afternoon and an additional one-hour morning session two to three times a week.

In addition to coaching, Mikah has PD Stoman as his strength and conditioning coach.

“I consider myself very fortunate to have such two great coaches and mentors,” he says. The young swimmer describes the butterfly stroke as his favourite style. “Butterfly 100m is currently my best event for which I have the highest FINA points,” Burger says.

The highly confident swimmer also achieved new personal best times in the 200m individual medley and the 50m butterfly. The young athlete describes his proudest moment as having qualified to represent Namibia at the Junior World Championships.

Asked by The Zone what challenges he has faced in his career, he said the greatest disappointment is working hard and feeling confident that he can swim a particular time and then not making that time in a competition.

“What I have learned from challenging times is that dedication and perseverance is essential to succeed long term,” he says.

He adds that the best advice he has received from his coach is that giving his best is always good enough. “If I don’t swim my intended time in a specific competition, he would remind me there is always another opportunity and that we have a long-term plan,” he says.