Two days of racing, two medals—that is what Chanel Veldsman can boast of at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.
Yesterday, the Tuks swimmer won silver in the 100m breaststroke. Remarkably, she improved her personal best time once again. Her time of 1:09.48 is more than a second faster than her previous best. Japan’s Mana Ishikawa won in 1:08.81, while Wui Kiu Man (Hong Kong) finished third in 1:10.33.
Veldsman herself is surprised by what she has achieved so far.
“I never thought I would win a medal at the Games—let alone two! The best I had hoped for was to qualify for a final. My main goal was to improve my personal best times. In the 100m breaststroke, I stayed completely focused on my race plan. It worked.
“I have had to sacrifice a lot over the past few years. I moved away from home and had to change schools, which has been difficult.”
Just as they did at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Tuks swimmers at the Youth Olympic Games are ensuring that the South African flag flies high. Leah Markgraaff is the other Tuks swimmer to have won a medal; she placed second in the 400m freestyle. So far, South Africa has secured five medals at the Games.
Tuks’s swimming program is unequivocally the best in South Africa. The results speak for themselves. Tuks’s Pieter Coetze is the only South African swimmer to break a world record this year; he did so at the Swimming World Cup series (25m pool), winning the 50m backstroke in 22.09 seconds.
At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Tuks’s swimmers won 15 medals (4 gold, 5 silver, and 6 bronze). This is an incredible performance, considering that Tuks’ combined medal tally (all sports) at the previous two Games was 19 (8 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze).
Between October 1 and October 17, Coetze reached nine finals, won eight, and tied for second in one. This made him the men’s overall World Cup Series winner.
At the South African Swimming Championships, Tuks’s swimmers won 40 medals (18 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze). During the South African Short Course Championships (25m Pool), Tuks won 11 gold medals in individual events, plus 15 silver and 11 bronze.
Tuks won the USSA Swimming Championships for the 12th consecutive time. In other words, they have been the South African university swimming champions for more than 4380 days.
Still, that is not all. During the Midmar Mile, Tuks’s women swimmers completed a hat trick for the second consecutive year. Callan Lötter won in 19:51. Stephanie Houtman placed second in 20:02, and Carli Antonopoulos placed third in 20:07.
At the South African Open Water Championships, Lötter won the 10km, 5km, and 3km knockout titles. She did the same last year. Tuks’s male swimmers dominated the men’s 10km race. Henré Louw won with 1:54:46, and Connor Albertyn placed third in 1:54.55.
