THERE were two new winners in the elite men’s and women’s races at Sunday’s aQuellé Midmar Mile as Callan Lötter and Matthew Caldwell claimed their maiden titles.

While Lötter took the direct route, dominating the elite women’s race, Caldwell’s strategy to swim a wide line may have raised some questions but it paid off.

The Johannesburg swimmer took the win in 18 minutes 32 seconds with fellow South Africans Henré Louw in second in a time of 18:42 and Connor Albertyn third in a time of 18:44.

French Olympian Damien Joly, swimming his first Midmar Mile, was fourth, a further seven seconds back.

“I just needed to be as wide as possible, not close to anyone. I just didn’t want to be in sight. I wanted to be like an invisible person swimming there. So the plan was just swim my own race in clean water,” Caldwell explained of his tactics.

“It’s lovely. I’ve been wanting this for a few years now … Henré, myself and Connor on the podium, that’s perfect, that’s how it should be; South Africa on top.”

Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Lötter (19) led from the start and reached the finish in 19 minutes 51.
She was joined by 2022 champion Stephanie Houtman who secured second spot in 20:02 with fellow Pretoria swimmer Carli Antonopoulos third in 20:07.

The trio were over a minute clear of the next swimmers.

“My plan was to go out comfortable and see where the rest of the people were, and if they went out fast, I would try and stay with them. And then my plan was only to start building from 400m onwards,” said Lötter afterwards. “It feels really good. It just shows that my training has been working and I’m really happy with how I performed today,” she said.

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