2025 Swammy Awards – African Female Swimmer of the Year – Kaylene Corbett

See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here

With Tatjana Smith announcing her retirement last year, immediately following her gold and silver medal-winning performances at the 2024 Paris Olympics, this year’s award seemingly would likely find a home outside of a South African breaststroker, as Smith has won six out of the last seven years, with the only interruption being Lara van Niekerk‘s marvelous 2022. However, such is the strength of South Africa’s breaststroke corps that 2021 runner-up Kaylene Corbett, stepped up in Smith’s absence, and claimed her first World Championships medal.

KATE DOUGLASS, EVGENIA CHIKUNOVA, ALINA ZMUSHA, KAYLENE CORBETT BY NARRDIA MULKEERRINS

Corbett, 26, is a two-time Olympian for South Africa and has long been around in international finals but her breakthrough this past summer in Singapore, as tied for the bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke with Alina Zmushka. While not a personal best, her time of 2:23.52 marked her first trip to the podium and was a bit of surprise as she qualified just 7th into the final and was less than a half second away from not making the final.

While the medal is noteworthy and laudable, Corbett consistency is perhaps even more deserving of recognition. Since 2019, the South African has made the final in the 200 breaststroke at every major meet that she has competed in. She made her debut at a World Championships back in 2017, where she placed 23rd, but since then it has been a top 8 appearance every time.

200 Breaststroke Finals

• 2019 Worlds
  • 8th – 2:26.62
• 2021 Tokyo Olympics
  • 5th – 2:22.06
• 2022 Commonwealth Games
  • Silver – 2:23.67
• 2023 World University Games
  • Silver– 2:22.99
• 2024 Paris Olympics
  • 7th – 2:24.46
• 2025 Worlds
  • Bronze (tied) – 2:23.52

Over this span of six years, Corbett is it the only swimmer from the 2019 Worlds final to have made the final this past summer, and is just one of two swimmers to do so from the 2021 Olympic final, with silver medalist Evgeniia Chikunova joining her.  Her bronze medal from Singapore will add to her collection of trophies, joining her 2022 Commonwealth silver and her 2023 World University Games silver.

Corbett’s medal, the lone bronze collected by African nations, was part of six medal haul for the continent, the highest number of medal collected in over a decade. Not since 2009, when in the supersuited era, the nations of Tunisia (1 Gold, 2 Silvers), Zimbabwe (1 Gold and 1 Silver), and South Africa (1 Gold, 2 Bronzes) has Africa had more success.

It’s not just medals however, as several new national and continental records were reset this past year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Olivia Nel – Nel started her year out with a strong showing at the 2025 ACC championships, where the South African sprinter set PBs in the 100 free and 100 back, placing 5th and 9th respectively. A month later at NCAA she helped the NC State Wolfpack to a pair of podium finishes in the 200 Free and 200 Medley relay, each of which finished in 6th place. Nel continued that success to the World University Games, where she along with her collegiate teammates Leah Shackley and Kennedy Noble swept the 50 back podium. Nel’s bronze medal winning time of 27.91, a new African record. While she did not equal that performance at Worlds, finishing 23rd in prelims (28.23), she did lead off her nation’s Medley Relay in 1:00.33, to help set a new national and Continental record of 3:59.47
• Erin Gallagher – No stranger to setting records, Gallagher lowered her national record in the 50 fly going 25.38 in the semifinals, to not only advance as the 3rd seed but to also come within .01 of the African Record held by Farida Osman. Gallagher added another national record to her strong 2025 Worlds outing, as she split 57.31 (fly) on the record setting medley relay.
• Rebecca Meder – The breaststroker on the new African Record medley relay (1:07.63), Meder, did not have the strongest individual meet in Singapore, failing to advance out of prelims in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and finished 10 in the 200 IM, but she rebounded strongly at the end of the year setting new PBs in the short course 200 breast and 200 IM events at the Carmel World Cup stop. Her 200 breaststroke time of 2:18.14, was just .12 off Smith continental record and her 2oo IM bronze medal performance of 2:05.56 shaved .05 off her own African Record set at the 2024 SC Worlds.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

• 2024 Swammy – Tatjana Smith, South Africa
• 2023 Swammy — Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
• 2022 Swammy – Lara van Niekerk, South Africa
• 2021 Swammy – Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
• 2020 Swammy – Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
• 2019 Swammy — Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
• 2018 Swammy — Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
• 2017 Swammy — Farida Osman, Egypt
• 2016 Swammy — Farida Osman, Egypt
• 2015 Swammy — Farida Osman, Egypt
• 2014 Swammy — Karin Prinsloo, South Africa
• 2013 Swammy — Farida Osman, Egypt