Gloria Muzito’s name will now forever be etched in memory for providing an ‘ah’ moment for Ugandan swimming.
Muzito clocked 25.59 seconds to win gold in the women’s 50m freestyle at the 6th edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
She completes a trend started by Kirabo Namutebi bagging silver in the same event at the last edition in Konya, Turkey.
Muzito’s is the first international gold in Uganda’s conventional swimming, although, overall, Husnah Kukundakwe got a couple of para-swimming ones in Konya.
“I am very happy and thankful for my gold,” Muzito said in the aftermath of her swim.
The 22 year old was dominant from the heats on Saturday. She topped the second heat in 25.77. The heat also included her teammate Tara Naluwoza Kisawuzi, who finished 3rd in 28.21 with Indonesia’s Nadia Aisha Nurazmi between them in a time of 27.08. Nurazmi eventually bagged bronze (26.18) behind Egypt’s Farida Hisham Ahmed Osman (26.04).
In the semis, also on Saturday, Muzito lowered the national record (NR) 25.66 that she set at the Swedish Nationals in June to 25.58 to qualify for the finals with the best time. Kisawuzi clocked 27.88 to bow out of the final.
Muzito had a slow start in the final but after 10 arm pulls, she was clearly poised to take charge of the race. She duly did and brought gold home in 25.59 – making it the third major championship she is medaling at in just over a year. She bagged 100m free gold and 50m free bronze at the Africa Aquatics Swimming Championships in Angola in April 2024 about a month after collecting 100m free bronze at the African Games in Ghana.
More to come
She is poised to push for more honours in the 100m and 200m freestyle events.
“It (Riyadh gold) is a result of the hard work I put in. I am very excited for the rest of the competition and ready to go,” Muzito said.
Meanwhile, Kisawuzi also qualified for the women’s 50m butterfly semis after clocking 29.77 to finish 5th in her heat. She was 6th in her semifinals with a slightly improved 29.73.
For the men, Jesse Ssengonzi finished 5th overall in the 50m fly final with a new NR 24.22. First he clocked 24.83 to finish second in his heat behind Turkey’s Berk Ozkul. Ssengonzi then clocked 24.62 to finish 4th in the race’s second semifinals.
In the final, he lowered his time made at the World Championships in Singapore (24.32) earlier this year as he marginally missed out on a podium position.
Both Ssengonzi and Tendo Mukalazi were involved in 50m freestyle. They both finished 7th in their respective heats with Mukalazi clocking 24.82 in Heat 5 and Ssengonzi 24.35 in Heat 6.
The four swimmers combined to finish 4th in their heat in the moxed 4x100m freestyle relay. Ssengonzi got them started off with a 54.01 while Kisawuzi did the second leg in 1:03.60 to take the cummulative time to 1:57.61.
Mukalazi clocked 55.89 to take the time to 2:53.50 while Muzito’s stunning 52.70 shift stopped the clock at 3:46.20 for the relay.
By press time, all four swimmers were headed for the 100m free with some of them expected to make the semis. Muzito was also tipped to make the finals due Tuesday.