Local swimmer wins SA title in his first ever 10km open water swim race
Prior to the recent SA Open Water Championship at Marina Martinique in Jeffreys Bay, Ruan Breytenbach considered himself a pool swimmer, but after winning the 5km and 10km double as well as the mixed 4x1.25km relay at the event, the 20-year-old will probably be focusing more on this kind of competitions.
Fresh from claiming two golds in the pool at the SA Grand Prix meet in Durban just a few weeks ago, Pretoria swimmer Ruan Breytenbach competed in his first 10km open water swim at the recent national championship and walked away as the new national champion.
Breytenbach has swum 3km and 5km events in the past, but this was his first attempt at the longer, Olympic 10km distance and it paid off.
The 20-year-old Pretoria student outduelled Connor Buck in the last lap of the SA Open Water Championships at Marina Martinique in Jeffreys Bay, putting in a final sprint to finish in 1 hour 58 minutes and 14,85 seconds with Buck second in 1:58:26,35 and Joshua Ashley coming a distant third in 2:02:09,58.
With his focus largely on the pool, Breytenbach admitted afterwards that his friends had convinced him to try out open water swimming.
Photo: Supplied
“I wasn’t expecting much because it was my first 10km so I was just trying to stick with the group for the first couple of laps and then hopefully someone would try and break away mid-race, which happened luckily. So, we just went from there and had a good ending,” he said.
Finishing in the top two meant Breytenbach is now eligible for selection for the team to represent South Africa at the World Championships at the end of June – something that’s come as a bit of a surprise to the pool swimmer.
“I didn’t know there was world champs this year for open water so I only heard about it on Thursday on my flight. Coach Neville [Smith] told me that he would like me to win the 5km and the 10km so that I can represent us there in Budapest,” he explained.
Later in the day Samantha Randle dominated the women’s 3km event, finishing in 37:30.16. Emma Carmody was second in 38:24.82 and Kaitlynne Horne third (38:25.43).
Both Randle and Breytenbach were back in the water for the final event of the day, guiding their Aquatics Gauteng Tshwane mixed 4×1.25km relay team to victory in a combined time of 1:00:02 (along with Stephanie Houtman and Reece Zowitsky).
On the last day of the championship, Breytenbach completed his hat-trick, when he also won the 5km competition.
Photo: Supplied
Just like in the 10km race a day earlier, the men’s 5km race came down to a last-lap battle between Breytenbach and Durban’s Connor Buck, with a frantic sprint to the finish. And once again it was Breytenbach who claimed the win.
The Pretoria swimmer only just beat his rival on the touch, finishing in 59 minutes 1.64 seconds, with Buck second in 59:01.73.
Breytenbach told Rekord after his success in Jeffreys Bay that he still prefers standard galas in the pool as his favourite swimming code, but that he will probably be more serious about participating in open water swimming competitions in the future.
He achieved great success in the pool between 2017 and 2019, when he won several medals at the African Junior Swimming Championships in Egypt (2017) and African Swimming Championships in Algeria (2018).
In 2019 he also reached the semi-finals (last 16) in the 400m medley at the junior world championships.
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