Rebecca Meder claimed three medals as the first SA Swimming Grand Prix of the year came to an end in Mpumalanga on Saturday, 7 January 2023.
Back in action after an impressive performance at the recent World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, Meder was in a class of her own as she comfortably claimed victory in the 100m butterfly (1:02.79), the 100m breaststroke (1:12.13) and the 200m individual medley (2:17.11) – the latter by over 18 seconds from her closest challenger.
“The whole thing is training and racing on tired bodies so to start Nelspruit like this – this is what I thrive on, this is what I’m good at, so to go from racing and training overseas into more racing is the gameplan for 2023,” said Meder.
“2023 is a really big year for racing – there’s world champs, world cups, African Games in Ghana. It’s a year full of racing, what an awesome year – I love racing.”
While there was also another title for 15-year-old Jessica Thompson who had an impressive opening day where she powered to victory in three races. She won the 100m backstroke on Saturday in 1:05.55.
“I was definitely not expecting the results that I got. I just came here looking to race, have a good time, feeling the water, enjoying everyone’s company and just having fun,” said a thrilled Thompson.
“I’ve realised with my racing that if I have fun, the results come so I was just focusing on having good racing time.
“I’m so excited for the year ahead. I’ve got a solid four-month block where I’m going to be pushing my body to the extreme, looking to senior nationals and what I can do there and then hopefully just from there getting better and stronger and working on my mental side so I can become one of the high-performing athletes that SA has to offer,” added Thompson.
The next SA Swimming Grand Prix will take place at Kings Park Swimming Pool in Durban from 3-5 March 2023.
Photo 1 Caption: Rebecca Meder claimed three medals as the first SA Swimming Grand Prix of the year came to an end in Mpumalanga on Saturday, 7 January 2023. Photo: Swimming SA / Supplied
With editing by gsport
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