October 23rd – October 27th
Mohamed Bin Zaid, Abu Dhabi, UAE
SCM (25m)
Results: Meet Mobile
Tunisia’s surprise Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui was in action this week at the 5th Arab Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi.
Originally meant to be a biannual event, the 2020 edition was pushed to this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. As such, we were treated to seeing Hafnaoui taking on short course meters after his 400m free win from Tokyo, with the 19-year-old reaping a trio of freestyle victories before this 5-day affair was over.
Hafnaoui took on the men’s 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, topping the podium in each. He logged respective efforts of 3:42.61, 7:42.62 and 14:40.48.
In the 400m free the teen produced a new personal best, knocking nearly 2 seconds off of the 3:44.49 he produced in 2018. With his time drop Hafnaoui, now ranks as the 3rd fastest Tunisian in the 4 free event, sitting only behind national record holder Ous Mellouli’s 3:36.75 and Ahmed Mathloughi’s 3:39.98 from 2009.
As far as the 800m, Hafnaoui was right near his personal best of 7:42.57 from 2019, sitting just 05 away from the mark en route to gold here at these championships.
Finally, in the 1500m, the freestyle ace was within range of his personal best of 14:36.12, also a time he put up in 2019. Here in Abu Dhabi, the man hit 14:40.48 to come within 4 seconds of the mark. As such, he remains as Tunisia’s 2nd fastest man ever in the event.
Hafnaoui will be racing at this year’s FINA Short Course World Championships.
Originally posted on SwimSwam.com. Click here to Read More.