Dragons make waves at Olympic trials
Following the trials, two of the club's members stand a chance of competing in the Paralympic Games expected to be held later this year.
Several members of the Dragons Swimming Club recently competed in the Olympic and Paralympic trials held in Port Elizabeth. The trials were held from April 7 to 12 in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Following the trials, two of the club members stand a chance of competing in the Paralympic Games expected to be held later this year. This event was on an invitation-only basis, which ensured the top swimmers from all over the country were invited.
Kaleb van der Merwe (Paralympics) is an S8 swimmer and has been with Dragons for a number of years. He has represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and made his first international finals with swims, breaking his own SA records.
At this year’s trials, he swam many PBs and broke a number of his own SA records. In his Para events, he also achieved qualifying times, which means he has a chance of making the SA team for Tokyo later this year. Van der Merwe broke two SA records in the 50m breaststroke and butterfly distance, attained four personal bests, four final qualifiers, two gold and two silver medals.
Cornelle Leach (Paralympics) is an S12 swimmer who is new to the Dragons family but old to the programme. While studying for her degree at Potchefstroom University, she began on the Dragons programme just before she represented South Africa at the World Championship in England in 2019. There, she also made her first international final.
At this year’s trials and Senior National Championships, she broke numerous SA records and achieved a number of PBs. Her world ranking improved in many of her Paralympic events to be in the top five positions in the world. She has also swum qualifying times in her events, which also gives her a very good chance of making the SA team for the Paralympic Games later this year.
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She also said that she will be staying in the sport beyond the 2024 Paralympic Games. With her continued drive and commitment to the sport, she will surely be one of the top S12 swimmers in the world. At the trials, Leach broke records in the 100m breaststroke, 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke.
She attained four personal bests, four final qualifiers, two silver medals and one silver. Cornelle also went on to break the SA records for 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 200m individual medley and a 50m backstroke at the senior nationals.
Brenden Crawford has been with Dragons since the age of nine under the guidance of Theo Verster. Now at 25, he is still swimming personal bests and is ranked one of the top breaststroke swimmers in the country. Crawford achieved one personal best, two final qualifiers and two silver medals at the trials.
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