Up-and-coming swimming star Kian Keylock rakes in the medals

His successful outing qualified him to move on to the senior nationals.

Libradene swimming sensation Kian Keylock produced a performance of the ages during the South African Junior Nationals (SANJ) which recently took place at King’s Park in KwaZulu-Natal.

The SANJs is an annual swimming gala which sees the best swimmers in Africa compete to be the best in their age group.

Keylock from CBC, who participated in the u-13 category, wasn’t just the best in his age group, but he emerged head and shoulders above the rest by a mile and more when he won 11 gold medals and three silvers from his 15 races spread across five days.

He also smashed the South African u-13 record for the 50m breaststroke, reducing the previous standing time of 31:42 seconds to 31:03.

The single race which Keylock didn’t get a medal for was the 50m freestyle discipline, which was such a tight affair that four split seconds separated first from eighth.

Keylock, according to the electronic timing device, finished sixth.

In the disciplines where he finished in the runner-up position, he was edged by a Namibian adversary. They include the 100m butterfly, 200m backstroke and the 400m freestyle.

His golden moments came in the 50m and 200m butterfly; the 50m and 100m backstroke; the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke; the 100m and 200m freestyle and the 200m and 400m individual medley.

He said: “I just wanted to do better than I did last year but the 11 golds didn’t seem real because I only won four last year at the same event.”

The swimmer also represented the country in February in Namibia at the CANA Zone IV Swimming Championships.

He won more gold in the 200m individual medley, the 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 4 x 100m mixed medley relay.

He added four more silvers from the 800m freestyle, 4 x 50m freestyle relay, 4 x 50m medley relay and 200m backstroke.

He also won bronze in the 100m backstroke, the 400m freestyle and the 4 x 100m mixed freestyle relay.

Keylock’s coach, Wade Marshall, who’s trained the aquatic prospect for a little over three years, heaped praise on the achievements.

“Kian is a very hard working and dedicated towards his swimming.

“He is very goal-driven and always gives 100 per cent in the training pool as well as the racing pool. He’s been with me since he was nine years old and got stronger every year. We have a good understanding and the most important is the swimmer and the coach relationship.”