Aimee Canny blasted a continental record and two Commonwealth Games qualifying times in the space of 30 minutes at the South African championships in Gqeberha on Tuesday night.
On a night where Pieter Coetzé and Ruard van Renen both achieved entry standards in the 100m backstroke for the showpiece in Glasgow, Canny showed that switching her training focus to distance had helped her speed.
The economics student at the University of Virginia started the evening session winning the women’s 200m freestyle in 1min 56.64sec, inside the 1:56.80 African mark she set in the same Newton Park pool at the Olympic trials in 2024 and well under the 1:58.23 standard for the Games.
About half-an-hour later she was back in the 100m breaststroke where she stunned her more fancied rivals, winning in 1:06.57, a time that ranks her as the country’s fourth-fastest of all time, after Tatjana Smith, Lara van Niekerk and Penny Heyns.
Simone Moll was second in 1:07.58 and Kaylene Corbett, who has now been pushed down to fifth-fastest of all time, third in 1:07.65. Rebecca Meder finished fourth (1:07.71) and Van Niekerk fifth (1:08.66).
“I’ve kind of always been training breaststroke, but this year I’ve kind of changed training groups and done a lot more distance.
“I was more sprint, mid-distance, and then this year I kind of transitioned to the distance group, even though my races aren’t distance-focused. I think it helps a lot and we learnt that my speed comes from doing longer and more endurance practices,” said Canny, who is rushing back to varsity at the end of the week as she looks to graduate in May.
Coetzé achieved a Games qualifier in the morning heats, but he had to speed up as Van Renen gave him a good run well into the second lap.
Coetzé clocked the fastest-ever 100m backstroke time in South African waters, improving on the 52.71 he went at this gala a year ago, while Van Renen touched in 53.61, a massive personal best that saw him become the third-fastest South African, behind Coetzé and Chris Reid.
He’s leap-frogged a clutch of backstrokers who had been above him, namely Gerhard Zandberg, Zane Waddell, George du Rand and Charl Crous.
“That’s by far the fastest I’ve been at nationals or at this time of year so it’s a very good sign,” said Coetzé. “I didn’t know what was going to happen and then just after the turn I just saw he popped up next to me and I was like ‘OK, he’s looking good, I’m going to have to push’.
“I’m super glad he [Van Renen] got it — it’s been a long time coming for him.”
Olivia Nel narrowly missed a qualifying time in the women’s 100m backstroke, a mistimed turn probably costing her more than the 0.37sec that separated her effort from qualification.
The 23-year-old won in 1:00.83, just outside the 1:00.46 criterion.
“The turn was very long,” admitted the US-based competitor.
“I think that comes with training yards in the US. The flags [marking the turn for backstrokers] are a bit shorter [to the end], so it’s different. I should have taken an extra stroke, but that’s alright, I was fighting on the way back so it’s OK.”
Nel can still have another shy at qualifying during the 4x100m medley relay.
In other action, Kris Mihaylov won the men’s 200m freestyle in 1:48.24, beating Guy Brooks (1:49.81) and Matthew Caldwell (1:49.86), and Chris Smith took the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:00.36, ahead of Michael Houlie (1:01.10).
• Isaacson is at the Bombela Concession Company South African championships in Gqeberha at the invitation of Swimming South Africa
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