Erin Gallagher breaks SA record on opening day of SA Swimming Champs

Erin Gallagher opened her campaign in spectacular fashion on Monday, shattering her own national record in the 50m butterfly on day one of the SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha.

Gallagher, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist, stopped the clock at 25.59 seconds in the sprint final, slicing nearly half-a-second off her SA mark of 26.05.

She finished well clear of 16-year-old Jessica Thompson who took second place in 26.41.

“This afternoon I had a really good energy and I could feel that if I was going to swim a PB (personal best), now was the time to do it,” Gallagher said.

“It’s always weird when you can feel you’re on track for a good swim and it’s all about seizing the moment.”

Breaststroke battle

Meanwhile, in a tight battle for the women’s 50m breaststroke title, Olympic 200m champion Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker) and former World Championships 50m medallist Lara van Niekerk pushed each other all the way to the line.

Smith came out on top, touching the wall in 30.09, with Van Niekerk taking the runner-up spot in 30.16. Teenager Simone Moll held on for the bronze medal in 31.06.

“It’s very surprising because in training my speed was the thing that was lacking the most. I think that’s just how the training is – I train for 200m so the speed is just the add-on,” said Smith.

“That’s why I like doing speed events, just to see where I am… so it’s nice to see that it is fast and hopefully the rest of the gala looks good as well.”

While the 50m butterfly and breaststroke events are not contested at the Olympics, Gallagher, Smith and Van Niekerk will all be aiming for places in the national squad over longer distances later in the week at the six-day national championships, which is also the SA trials for this year’s Games in Paris.