Gholfaksie by Glenwood
GEORGE - Despite the devastating impact of the Covid-19-pandemic, George's Minke Janse van Rensburg is doing swimmingly.
At the third Eden Aquatics A League swimming gala in Oudtshoorn held earlier this month, Minke (16) had an excellent day in the pool and improved her times in some items by almost 10 seconds.
In the 100m freestyle event she broke the open (all ages) Down syndrome world record of 32-year-old Mexican Dunia Camacho, that was set at the ninth Down Syndrome World Championship in Canada during July 2018.
Minke, at the tender age of thirteen, took bronze in that event. Her new record time is 1:21.05.
Minke now holds four www.georgeherald.com open Down syndrome world records: in the 25m short course freestyle, 50m short course freestyle, 50m long course freestyle and the 100m long course freestyle.
Minke also surprised with her times in the other items she swam at the gala. In the 200m freestyle event she improved her previous junior world record by almost nine seconds.
The new record time of 3:02.84 is also a new open Africa record.
In both the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke events she set new junior Africa records.
Other than the four Down syndrome open world records, Minke holds six junior Down syndrome world records, five open Down syndrome Africa records and 17 junior Down syndrome Africa records.
She improved her times in some items by almost 10 seconds.