Local swimmers shine at KZN championships

Local swimmer Christelle Kriel added three national records as well as a new African one to her name in December.

A total of five of Nelspruit Swimming Academy’s (NSA) top swimmers participated at the 2015 KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Swimming Championships at Kings Park Swimming Pool in Durban.

Christelle broke the South African records in the 100-metre fly, 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre freestyle. She also achieved a new African record in the 200-metre backstroke.

Chad le Clos, who swims the event every year, also did not fail to impress.

As a source of inspiration for the 1 200 aspiring young athletes who enter for the event every year, he was victorious in the 200-metre fly and 200-metre freestyle.

NSA’s swimmers exceeded their own expectations and most certainly gained the respect of their competitors.

Christelle completely dominated her own class and now has three B qualifying times for the Rio 2016 Paralympics. She aims to qualify in Olympic A times before or at nationals in April.

Vidhaan Singh went to the KZN champs after missing SA Schools for medical reasons and swam a level-three time in the 200-metre breaststroke.

Skye Munro qualified for the National Youth time in the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 28,42 seconds. She also won gold in the 50-metre butterfly.

Giano Dos Santos took gold in the 100-metre backstroke, 200-metre backstroke, silver in the 200-metre IM and a bronze medal in the 50-metre backstroke.

Jimmy Munro took silver in the 100-metre fly with one of the fastest times ever for an 11-year-old in Mpumalanga.

Swimming 1:15:25 is also a Fina A+ time and a method used to flag swimmers as Olympic quality at a very young age. This qualifies Jimmy for level-three nationals, a major achievement.

NSA placed eighth out of a total 26 clubs competing in the event.

The club called it a major achievement for coach Gideon du Toit and the management of NSA headed by André and Chrisna Cloete.

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