Swimmers’ premier champs medal haul show they’re strokes ahead

Two young Amanzimtoti swimmers are making waves in the pool and 2018 looks like it will be their year.

Matthew Maree and Kate Andersson, both 11-years-old and members of Aqua Lifestyle Centre in Winklespruit, qualified as level three swimmers last year. They were invited to race at the Premier Championships at Kings Park Pool from 16 to 22 December. The event was combined with the Commonwealth trials for the senior swimmers, so Matthew and Kate were fortunate to watch swimmers such as Chad Le Clos, Kalvyn Justus, Cameron van den Berg, Aryton Sweeney, Michael Houlie and many more in action.

Matthew and Kate swam in 10 events each in the 11-years and under age group. Kate qualified for five finals and Matthew for four. They also swam personal bests in every race. Kate won gold for the 100m butterfly and bronze for the 50m butterfly, while Matthew managed to win bronze for the 50m butterfly.

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Making this achievement even more significant is that Kate has only been training for two years and Matthew is showing great promise in the pool with only a year of training behind him. This is a phenomenal achievement as most children have put in four to five years of training to achieve this level of swimming.

They still have a full schedule ahead of them this term, finishing off with the level two and three regional championships in Sasolburg during the Easter holidays, which will conclude the 2017/18 swimming season.