Day One
The Nelspruit leg of the SA Grand Prix got off to a flying start today with the Open Water swimmers in action at the Longmere Dam in Whiteriver.
In the 10km event, it was Olympian Michelle Weber that came out on top in a fast 1:57:28.95, followed by Rebecca Meder in 1:58:02.65 and Abi Meder in 2:01:23.05, while on the men’s side, Cape Town’s Dylan Wright claimed the gold in 1:57:36.25 ahead of Pretoria’s Henre Louw in 1:58:0314 and fellow team-mate Andrew Ritchie in 1:59:05.68.
Bloemfontein’s David Leukes and Gauteng’s Ayesha Valli competed in the 3km race and finished in 47:00.38 and 52:37.98, respectively.
The participants from this weekend’s Open Water competition will be looking forward to the SA National Open Water Championships, which will be held in Jeffrey’s Bay on 3rd and 4th March 2018 and will double as the official qualification event for the World Youth Open Water Championships in Israel later in the year.
The SA Grand Prix continues tomorrow with the Open Water section starting at 08h00, while the swimming finals session will begin at 14h00.
Day Two
The Van Riebeeck Park Pool witnessed some amazing performances as Mzansi’s talented youth took to the water for the first swimming finals session of the 2018 South African Grand Prix in Nelspruit today.
Ayrton Sweeney was over the moon with his wins in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley.
In the freestyle event, Sweeney edged out the competition in 1:53.23, ahead of fellow team-mate Matthew Bosch who claimed the silver in 1:55.83 and Germany’s Rafael Miroslaw who walked away with the bronze in 1:55.96, while in the medley race, Sweeney finished in 2:05.29 to Anandt van Rensburg’s 2:13.42 and 2:16.60 from Germany’s Marc Brock.
In the 100m freestyle, there was no stopping Erin Gallagher, as she raced to the gold in a time of 56.44 to Olivia Nel’s 59.24 and Germany’s Angelina Kohler’s 59.34, while Emily Visagie won a well-deserved gold in the 200m breaststroke in 2:32.76 ahead of Germany’s Anna Kroniger and Noa Horsterm who finished in 2:36.28 and 2:40.15, respectively.
Tori Oliver beat out Germany’s Rosaline Kleyboldt in the 200m butterfly, touching the wall in 2:25.85 to Kleyboldt’s 2:26.50, while the bronze was claimed by SA’s Jordyn Minifie in 2:36.41.
Straight from his impressive performance at the KZN Premier Championships, Luca Holtzhausen continued to showcase his talent, winning the 50 and 100m freestyles.
In the 100m event, Holtzhausen clocked 54.74, over 7secs ahead of Grant de Jager in 1:02.96 and Greg Braithwaite in 1:07.42, while in the 50m race, the 13 year-old’s time was 25.34 to De Jager’s 28.48 and Braithwaite’s 30.41.
Jessica Whelan was also victorious on two occasions, with a golden time of 5:04.48 in the 400m individual medley and 4:30.78 in the 400m freestyle, while Martin Binedell claimed the top position in the 200m backstroke in 2:04.05.
Melanie Cooke and Chumwe Ngandwe came first and second in the 100m butterfly in 1:13.95 and 1:36.03, respectively, while the 800m freestyle winners were Aryan Makhija in 8:28.64, Divan Bester in 8:55.72 and Yuvish Premlall in 9:35.07.
Cooke also scooped the 100m breaststroke gold in 1:31.15 and later in the day won the bronze in the 200m individual medley in 2:50.33.
In the 50m freestyle, Daniel Ronaldson grabbed the gold in 23.90, followed by Alard Basson in 24.35, while the bronze was shared between Cameron Oliver and Alaric Basson, who both finished in 24.57, with Ronaldson also winning the 100m butterfly in 54.94.
Alaric Basson was not done for the day as he also scooped the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke in 1:03.71 ahead of Brenden Crawford in 1:04.44 and Anandt van Rensburg in 1:07.39, while the 100m backstroke title went to Matt Caldwell in 1:22.57.
It was an all German affair in the 100m backstroke as Lucie Kuhn (1:05.39), Hannah Kuchler (1:06.38) and Sophia Beckers (1:06.61) dominated the race.
In the 5km Open Water races, which took place this morning, Michelle Weber as well as sisters Rebecca and Abi Meder once again topped the medal podium in 1:00:09.52, 1:00:18.96 and 1:00:27.78, respectively, while on the men’s side, Henre Louw went one better by winning the gold in1:00:01.53 ahead of Aiden Petersen in 1:00:18.53 and Andrew Ritchie in 1:00:19.59.
The Nelspruit leg of the SA Grand Prix concludes tomorrow with the swimming finals session starting at 08h30.
The second and final leg of the Grand Prix will be held in Stellenbosch from 16th to 18th February 2018.
Day Three
The Nelspruit leg of the 2018 South African Swimming Grand Prix wrapped up today at the Van Riebeeck Park Pool, once again proving that there is no shortage of local talent.
Erin Gallagher (19) concluded the meet with an additional two gold medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly.
In the freestyle race, Gallagher claimed the top spot in 26.05 ahead of Germany’s Angelina Kohler in 26.96 and Olivia Nel in 27.26, while her winning time in the butterfly event was 1:01.78, over 3secs ahead of Kohler’s 1:04.51 and Kerryn Herbst’s 1:06.53.
Emily Visagie (20) also bagged another gold medal, this time in the 100m breaststroke, clocking 1:12.77 ahead of Germany’s Anna Kroniger and Malaika Schneider in 1:14.09 and 1:15.38, respectively, while Megan Tully (15) was victorious in the 200m backstroke in 2:24.53, beating out Germany’s Barbara Schaal in 2:25.04 and Kristin Bellingan in 2:27.04.
Luca Holtzhausen (13) added four gold medals to his tally today, winning the 200 and 400m individual medleys in 2:12.33 and 4:45.11, the 100m butterfly in 59.13, and the 100m breaststroke in 1:12.99, while 15 year old Rebecca Meder, who won two silver medals in the Open Water section, returned to the pool and scooped two gold medals in the 200m freestyle in 2:05.90 and the 200m individual medley in 2:21.67.
Daniel Ronaldson (21) beat out Ayrton Sweeney in the 200m butterfly, touching the wall in a fast 2:03.87 to Sweeney’s 2:06.57, with the bronze medal going to Tiago Cordeiro in 2:07.64, while in the 100m freestyle, Ronaldson only managed a silver in 52.07 behind Germany’s Damien Wierling in 50.01 and ahead of Paul Reither from Germany in 52.40.
Later on in the day, Sweeney (24) secured his second gold of the competition in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:17.34 followed by Alaric Basson in 2:21.78 and Sachin Chetty in 2:28.99.
The 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke gold medals went to Hannah Robertson (13) in 1:01.53 and 1:13.75, respectively, while the first place in the long distance 800m freestyle went to Tori Oliver in 9:31.13, with Robertson finishing second in 9:47.51.
Robertson claimed her second silver of the meet in the 50m freestyle in 28.89, behind Brooklyn Croxon in 28.35 and ahead of Hannah Cromhout in 29.17.
The medal podium in the 100m backstroke was completed by Martin Binedell in 58.07, Chase Rayment in 1:00.36 and Cameron Oliver in 1:00.70, with the top three positions in the 400m freestyle going to Aryan Makhija in 4:07.72, Dylan Wright in 4:14.08 and Henre Louw in 4:16.16.
The second and final leg of the Grand Prix will be held in Stellenbosch from 16th to 18th February 2018.
Press release courtesy of Swimming South Africa