Jessica Thompson, Lara van Niekerk Shine at South African Championships
Jessica Thompson added two more gold medals to her haul as Lara van Niekerk showed glimpses of her old self on Day Three of the Bombela Concession Company SA National (25m) Championships in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday.
Thompson has already collected three national titles at these championships and added two more on Saturday, in the 50m freestyle, which she won in 24.19, just five hundredths of a second off the national record, and the 100m backstroke in 58.34.
“I think in the 50, you don’t have time to think – that’s the beauty about the races. It’s more just trusting in your training and you can’t think about it – your body goes into autopilot,” Thompson said.
Meanwhile, after a year of battling back from injury, illness and numerous disappointments, Van Niekerk looked to be in a much happier place as she added the 50m breaststroke title to the 100m gold she won on the opening day of competition. The 22-year-old took the win in a time of 30.04 and while she was hoping for a sub-30-second time, she said: “I can just take this as a positive. It’s faster than I went at worlds last year, so it’s baby steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we’re getting there.”
As for the mental aspect, the double Commonwealth Games champion added: “I’ve just got back to why I started swimming in the beginning and I’m really enjoying it again. I love going to training every day and at least I’m enjoying racing again. There was a stage last year where I was scared of racing, so it’s good. It means I’m improving as a person and I’m getting back there.”
Chris Smith took the men’s 50m breaststroke title in 26.31, but said afterwards, he wasn’t expecting too much more from himself in terms of the time.
“I think it was good, especially for this time of year. It’s a bit more than half a second away from my personal best time, but overall I’m happy,” he said afterwards.
In the absence of Chad le Clos, Tai Pearson finally got his hands on two gold medals on Saturday – in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. He took the win in the 100m backstroke in 53.29 and followed that up with the 200 IM gold in 2:01.49.
Duné Coetzee returned to winning ways in the 400m freestyle, winning in a time of 4:11.38. The men’s 400m freestyle title went to Matthew Caldwell, who won in 3:48.47.
Keira van Heerden made a return to the podium, completing an individual medley double, adding to her 400m IM gold by holding off a fast-finishing Georgia Els to win the 200m event in 2:14.79.
And there was a first-ever national title for Armand Landmann, who won the 50m freestyle in 22.09.
