Young woman swimmers making a splash
IT MAY still be too early to call it a revival but a crop of young female swimmers are showing signs of making a mark on South African swimming.
A handful of teenagers put up their hands at the African Swimming Championships and fuelling the hope that female swimming could be on the up.
The third day of the gala was dominated by female swimmers with the 17-year-old Kaylene Corbett posting a championship record in the women’s 50m breaststroke with a time of 32.58 seconds.
Caitlin Kat won her second gold medal of the championships touching first in the 400m freestyle while rising star Mariella Venter won the 100m backstroke.
Corbett finished ahead of 14-year-old Hanim Abrahams with Egypt’s Mai Atef bagging the bronze in 33.44s.
Venter was left heartbroken at the SA Swimming Championships in Durban where she missed Olympic qualification in the women’s 100m backstroke by 0.72 seconds.
Venter claimed the continental 100m backstroke tittle yesterday with a time of 1:02.44 touching ahead of Alexus Laird of Seychelles in 1:05.53 with Egypt’s Ingy Abouzaid taking third in 1:06.50.
Bolstered by her inclusion for her maiden world championships Venter also set her sights on next year’s long-course edition in Budapest, Hungary.
“I am looking forward to next year’s worlds and looking to post qualifying times,” Venter said.
“The Olympics came a bit early for my swimming career but qualifying for the world short-course is just putting me out there for international competition.
“That will get me into the pool with world-class swimmers and building up my experience for the 2020 Olympics.”
Kat won her second gold medal of the championships adding the 400m freestyle title to the 200m medal from the day before.
Meanwhile, Martin Binedell and Neil Fair gave South Africa a one-two finish in the 200m backstroke with the duo clocking 2:03.43 and 2:04.33 respectively.
Douglas Erasmus hit the wall first in the men’s 50m butterfly with a time in 24.33 ahead of Egypt’s Hassan Yasser in 24.64s.