Some swimmers from Mpumalanga dived in with much enthusiasm at the first event of the 2023/24 swimming calendar.

The MP Sprint Gala took place at Van Riebeeck Park on Saturday September 23.

Excellent times were achieved for early in the season, and those who had been training hard in the off season reaped the rewards.

In the boys’ 15-16 50m freestyle, the top thee places were separated by just 0.53 seconds.

Neil Burger claimed first place in 00:25:79. Henning Radley was second in 00:26.10 and Jayden Rautenbach third in 00:26:32. All three are members of Uniswim.

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There were thrilling races in the 100m freestyle events.

In the boys’ 10 and over race, Jetro Piso of Uniswim clocked 00:56:22, to edge out teammate Christo Ferreira by just 0.11 of a second.

In the girls’ event, Tiffany Marshall of Uniswim won in 01:06:38. Karmen van Rensburg, also of Uniswim, was second on 01:06:85. Just 0.4 of a second separated the two.

Jaime Maritz of Curro Swimming Academy went head to head against Anja Buitendach of Uniswim in the girls’ 50m butterfly. Jaime won the race by 0.21 of a second, clocking 00:33:01 to Anja’s 00:33:22.

The next event on the calendar is the MP Age Group 1 Gala on Friday and Saturday (September 29 and 30) at Van Riebeeck Park.