Husnah Kukundakwe in action during the nationals, May 7, 2025. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

Uganda’s para swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe opened her Toyota World Para Swimming Championships campaign in Singapore on Wednesday with an African record in the Women’s 100m freestyle S8 heat-2 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

Kukundakwe clocked 1:11.76 to set a new African record over the distance as she finished third in heat-2 behind USA’s Jessica Long who won the heat in 1:09.67. Great Britain’s Alice Tai who came second in 1:10.39.

She had a fairly good dive in with a better reaction time and led the race in the opening 25 meters but was overtaken before the turn and despite pushing on her more energetic finished ahead of her in the heat which had six competitors.

But she fell short in the afternoon finals and could only fathom an eighth-place finish, where she came in 1:12.23. Alice won the gold in 1:05.49 with Italian Francesca Palazzo (1:06.75) and American, Long, (1:08.62) taking the silver and bronze respectively.

“My first day has gone on pretty well because I was able to make a personal best and an African record which means I have already met three of my goals and I look forward to the rest of the competition,” Kukundakwe said.

“I didn’t have a good turn but I look forward to working on my short comings with my coach as there is always something to learn from every race and the lessons learnt from this event will mirror in the next competition,” Kukundakwe stated.

“Considering how I have performed today, I’m looking forward to making it again in the final in the 200m Medley race.”

Kukundakwe will dive in again on Thursday for the 50m breaststroke race, and on Friday for the 200m Medley race before she completes her campaign on Saturday with the 100m breaststroke race.

The other Ugandan at the championship Condoleezza Nakazibwe will compete on her only event-the women 50m freestyle S9 on Saturday.