Six swimmers achieved Commonwealth Games qualifying times on the second day of the SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Wednesday.
The women’s 200m individual medley proved to be the highlight of the evening, producing a massive battle between the in-form Aimee Canny and defending champion Rebecca Meder.
Meder had already dipped just under the Commonwealth Games qualifying time by one hundredth of a second in the morning heats, finishing in 2:12.82. After a thrilling duel in the evening final, it was Canny who was the quicker of the two, claiming the title to add to her 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke golds from the opening night of competition in a time of 2:10.90, with Meder second in 2:11.29 – both well under the qualifying time.
“That was a really exciting race. I knew coming into it, it was going to be really fun tonight,” Canny said afterwards.
“I knew Rebecca was going to be there the whole way of that race and it was really fun to kind of swim with her, and I knew we were in it together,” she added.
Coetzé and Van Renen
There were also two qualifiers in the men’s 50m backstroke, with both Pieter Coetzé and Ruard van Renen dipping under the required mark. Coetzé took the title in 24.54 seconds after swimming the exact same time in the morning heats, while Van Renen was second in 24.93 seconds, just one hundredth of a second slower than his morning time.
Coetzé admitted he was surprised to have swum the same time.
“I didn’t even warm up this morning, so I feel like I felt a bit cold this morning,” he explained. “I felt better tonight, but the 50 is such a strange thing, you never know. You can feel good and swim a terrible time or you can feel very bad and swim a great time.
“I don’t really train for the 50, I train for the 200, so I feel like I’m not super consistent in the 50 yet, but it’s a good time and I’ll take it for this time of the year.”
Thompson and Gallagher
In the women’s 50m backstroke, it was 18-year-old Jessica Thompson who added her name to the list of Commonwealth Games qualifiers. The national record holder also already achieved the qualifying time in the morning heats with a mark of 27.94 seconds and then went quicker in the evening final, taking the title in 27.79 seconds.
Speaking of achieving the qualifying time in the heats, Thompson admitted: “I think it was such a relief, like I was really worried about getting that qualifying time. I’ve got it a few times throughout the season, so I think just getting it in the final and the prelim was a big relief and a big help for me.”
Meanwhile, Erin Gallagher also added her name to the list of Commonwealth Games qualifiers, powering to victory in the 100m butterfly in 57.36 seconds, just four hundredths of a second off the SA and African record she set at the national nhampionships in 2024.
“I had no idea what I was going to swim tonight. So to see a 57-low is very surprising and I’m very happy about that. (My coach) Rocco said, ‘Whatever you do tonight, you have to go under 58.’ So I was like, ‘If I don’t, I’m walking home.’ So I’m very glad that I went under the 58,” Gallagher joked afterwards.
In the Para events, Kat Swanepoel celebrated another national record. Having claimed SB4 50m breaststroke and S5 100m backstroke records on the opening night of competition, the former world champion set another new SA mark in the S5 50m freestyle on Wednesday in 44.04 seconds.
