Erin Gallagher bettered the African record she set at the World Championships in Doha earlier this year to power to her second national record of the week on the penultimate night of action at the SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Friday, 12 April, 2024.
The Pretoria swimmer stormed to the national title in the 100m butterfly in a time of 57.32 seconds, also dipping under the Olympic qualifying time of 57.92.
The 25-year-old admitted afterwards her body had not felt good in the morning so she had held back in the heats. “But I went home, had a two-hour nap, had some McDonald’s and I was ready to go this evening,” she said.
“When I finished the race I thought I’d be more tired, but now I feel like I need to go again so that’s a good sign.
“I think if this race was earlier in the gala I could have maybe done a little bit more, but this is where I’m at now and there are lessons to be learnt and rather swim slower and faster in Paris.”
Also planning ahead to Paris is Tatjana Smith, who achieved the Olympic qualifying time in the heats and final of the 100m breaststroke. She swam 1:05.48 to take the gold with Commonwealth Games champion Lara van Niekerk finishing second in 1:07.16.
“When I did the 200m [breaststroke] I was like, ‘Ok the main one is done!’, so I was really struggling to get my mindset back into competing, and I think also physically it took a toll. I could feel this one burnt a lot more than it did in the 200, so you have those pros and cons,” said a relieved Smith who explained she’s still fully recovering from a groin strain.
Later in the evening, Aimee Canny booked her ticket to Paris by achieving the required qualifying time in the opening leg of the 4x200m freestyle relay as part of the Western Cape team.
The 20-year-old shook off the disappointment of missing out on qualification in the 200m freestyle final on Wednesday by .13 of a second and bounced back in impressive fashion with a time of 1:56.80 to dip well under the required 1:57.26.
“I don’t think I have the words right now to describe it. I’m super-happy with that swim. It was just a great swim… It’s pretty surreal right now. It’s something I’ve been practising and training for this moment so it’s so weird that it’s come true.”
Speaking about coming back from just missing out on Wednesday, Canny added: “I had a good day to just process everything and then I was like, I’m ready, I want to go again. I knew 0.1 [of a second] is nothing, especially in a 200. I knew I was there.”
Swimming action continues at the Newton Park Swimming Pool on Saturday.
Swimmers who have achieved Olympic Qualifying Times at the SA Championships 2024
Aimee Canny (200m freestyle)
Kaylene Corbett (200m breaststroke)
Erin Gallagher (100m butterfly)
Tatjana Smith (100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke)
Swimmers who have Achieved Paralympic Qualifying Times at the SA Championships 2024
Kat Swanepoel
Alani Ferreira
Danika Vynck
Original Copy: Swimming South Africa, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: Erin Gallagher improved her 100m Butterfly African record set earlier this year in Doha for her second SA record in the 100m butterfly of the week on Day 5 of the SA National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Friday, 12 April 2024. Photo: SA Sports Images/Anton Geyser
Photo 2 Caption: Breaststroke Queen Tatjana Smith fought off the impact of a groin injury to notch up her 2nd Olympic Qualifying time on Friday. Photo: SA Sports Images/Anton Geyser
Photo 3 Caption: Aimee Canny was delighted to set her qualifying time in the opening leg of team Western Provinces’ 4x200m freestyle race. Photo: SA Sports Images/Anton Geyser
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