Hafnaoui’s gold is the first pool gold for North Africa since countryman Mellouli won the 1500 at the 2009 Rome World Championships. If you exclude South Africa, this is the first gold for the entire continent since 2009, when Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry also won gold in the 200 backstroke. In the prelims, Egypt’s Youssef Ramadan set a new national record of 48.77 in the men’s 100 free. Ramadan, who attends Virginia Tech was the 2023 NCAA champion in the 100 fly. Ramadan joins compatriots Abdelrahman Sameh and Marwan Elkamash, who had already written their names into the national record book in the 50 fly for the former, and in the 800 free for the latter.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 26, 2023 18:54 UTC