A St Stithians Girls’ College Grade 11 learner participated in the South African National Championships held in Gqeberha from April 8 – 13.
The championships also doubled up as the Olympic trials event.
Jessica Thompson made A finals in five events and even broke her own SA age group butterfly 50m record set in December, twice, in one day. Jessica also broke the 50m Freestyle SA age group record thrice during this gala.
Liesel Thompson, Jessica’s mother, confirmed that her daughter broke seven records in as many days at the championship gala.
“For a 16-year-old, that’s quite insane, to be honest,” Thompson said. “She took away a silver medal in her 50m butterfly event, and a bronze in her 50m freestyle – where she narrowly missed an Olympic qualifying time by just 00:00.35 seconds.”
Jessica placed fourth in the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle, and fifth in the 100m backstroke, narrowly missing the podium.
“We are super proud of her attempts considering she is the youngest swimmer in all her finals, as well as her number one placing for U18s within SA Swimming at the moment,” Liesel said.
Jessica has her heart set on tackling the World’s Short Course hosted in Budapest this December, and the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She spoke a little on how much the opportunity means to her on April 24.
“I am so grateful and blessed to have achieved these results,” Jessica said, indicating what she will be working towards realising her goals. “It’s hard to focus on stroke technique for all three during training, given how they are all so different.”
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