Jessica Thompson stole the show on the second day of action at the Bombela Concession Company SA National (25m) Championships in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, breaking a national record and equalling the African mark held by Zimbabwe’s new International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry.
The 18-year-old was disappointed to miss out on the SA record in the 50m butterfly on Thursday, but responded in the best way possible, setting a new mark in the 50m backstroke of 26.85 seconds. That saw her breaking the record that had been set by Chanelle van Wyk 16 years ago. Van Wyk was poolside to witness the achievement, providing the commentary for the television coverage of the championships.
“It’s so good, especially after last night. I think it was a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but I’m really happy to have gotten it tonight and just getting that time is a really big deal for me,” said an ecstatic Thompson afterwards.
As for having Van Wyk on hand to watch her break her 2009 record, Thompson added: “It was really nice to have her there and seeing where swimming in South Africa is progressing to.”
Meanwhile, the 50m backstroke title was claimed by Chad le Clos, who is rapidly reinventing himself as a backstroker. He powered to victory in 23.62 seconds, in a race he described as the main takeaway of his last two days of racing.
The former Olympic champion was back in more familiar territory just a few minutes later, also securing victory in the 100m butterfly in a time of 50.81 seconds.
“I feel great. I think the backstroke was the highlight… It’s weird, my backstroke and my freestyle were probably my better swims, not my butterflies,” he said afterwards.
“I want to try and keep going as long as I can and I think the 50s have given me a lot of life, especially short course. I know I will improve and I’ve got a lot of big things coming… I think I’m going to settle nicely into the new year, build towards April and then hopefully surprise everybody next year, that’s the plan.”
The women’s 100m butterfly produced a surprise champion in 16-year-old Abigail Kotze, who beat Olympian Duné Coetzee to the title in a time of 1:00.69.
“Obviously you go into it hoping, I think everyone hopes and believes they can do it. But I’m just so grateful to actually have done it,” said the Western Cape swimmer. “Swimming against Duné – I’ve been looking up to her since I was 10 or 11, so that was just such a big honour swimming against her,” she added.
Coetzee had earlier picked up victory in the 200m freestyle, winning in a time of 1:59.71, while it was Matthew Caldwell who took the men’s title in 1:49.01.
“I actually didn’t see the guys in the outside lane there. It was a really good swim from those guys,” said Caldwell afterwards. “I knew I was racing my race, so whatever they did, I was doing my own thing, so it was good… It went like I wanted it to. I did my little last push at the end and got the medal.”
The 800m freestyle titles were decided earlier in the day, with Carli Antonopoulos thrilled to claim a first national short course title, winning in 8 minutes 53.28 seconds, while 17-year-old Stephan Engelbrecht took the win in the men’s race with a time of 7:56.72.
Antonopoulos was especially pleased with the result, considering the year she has endured – having slipped and broken her arm in February and only returning to full training in May.
“It feels good. I’m really happy, especially after what happened at the beginning of the year, breaking my arm and coming back, so it’s been good,” she said of the victory.
There were also first-time champions in both the men’s and women’s 400m individual medley with 18-year-old Keira van Heerden taking the women’s title in 4:51.13 and Juan Boshoff the men’s in 4:21.29, taking over two seconds off his previous personal best.
Van Heerden was taken by surprise by her victory, given this was her first time competing in the 400m individual medley.
“This is my first time swimming the 400 IM, I just went into it because I wanted to improve my 200 IM, building up more fitness for the 200 so that’s just been the goal the whole time,” explained the 18-year-old.
Swimming action at the Bombela Concession Company SA National (25m) Championships continues in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday and runs until Sunday.