EGYPTIAN swimmers made remarkable achievements at the World Cup in Kazan, Russia, this week. Ahmed Akram, 19, made history by becoming the first Egyptian swimmer to reach fourth place in a world cup in the 1500 metres freestyle race. He clocked 14.53 minutes, breaking his own record. Akram, a scholarship student at University of South Carolina, dominated the pool in the heats before the final. He won the gold medal in the same race at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China. Farida Osman also joined the hall of fame of Egyptian swimming when she qualified for the 50 metre butterfly semi-finals, and managed to improve her own record in the 100 meter butterfly from 59.31 to 58.22 seconds. Another triumph was that swimmers broke eight of their personal records; no other country has done this or even gotten close to it. They include Akram, Osman, Marwan El-Kamash, Youssef El-Kamash, Mohamed Khaled Hussein, Omar Eid and Ali Khalafalla. Yasser Edris, head of the Egyptian Swimming Federation, was thrilled with these successes and attributes them to national team coach Sherif Habib.
