Fraser breaks three records
MBABANE – SwimLab Swimming Club did not only dominate the second ESA Age Group Gala, but had two of their swimmers smashing records.
Last Saturday during the Eswatini Swimming Association (ESA) event held at Enjabulweni School, Luca Fraser broke three records alongside national swimmer Hayley Hoy. Fraser broke two of his own records. Firstly, it was the 50-metre breaststroke with a previous record of 34.52 seconds. He set a new record of 34.18. In the boys (11 to 12 years) 100 metres freestyle, he improved his personal best (PB) from 01.03.62 to 01.02.58 minutes. His third highlight was setting a new record of 28.48 seconds, breaking a James Shungube’s 28-year-old record of 29.31 that had not been challenged since 1994. Hoy, on the other hand, smashed a record that had been hanging a decade before she was born. The 24-year-old record left by Amanda Gibson in 1998; a 50-metre backstroke record timed at 1.13.38. She set a record of 1.12.56 minutes.
SwimLab Coach’s Welcome Nhlabatsi marvelled at his club members’ dedication, as most of their swimmers set new PBs on top the duo’s impressive new records. All members of this high performing swimming club had a share of the silverware, as none of them went home empty-handed. SwimLab collected a total of 48 gold medals, 26 silver and 5 bronze.
“As a club, we had a very good performance at this gala. Yes, Luca and Hayley might have broken records, but we also had lots of swimmers from the club who got personal best times. None of my swimmers went home without a medal. That means a lot. We dominated at that gala. We are already preparing for the Mpumalanga championships between December 2 and 4, 2022 plus a Maputo invitation at the end of January 2023,” Nhlabatsi said.
Renowned
In reference to Hoy and Fraser, the renowned swimming coach said; “These guys are on another level. This is a confidence booster for Hayley as she prepares for Region 5 to be held in Malawi in December. We are hoping for a good performance. These two are our 2026 youth Olympic team. We are hoping to make history through them qualifying for the games.”
Nhlabatsi further said the overall performance proved that that SwimLab was doing something right, attributing it to their high performance programme. He further commended the ample support shown by parents, as some of the swimmers travel over 160 kilometres from as far as Simunye and Siteki for daily swimming lessons.