Aimee Canny Resets African Record In 200 Free For Third Time At Indy Pro Swim

2026 Pro Swim Series – Indianapolis

• June 17-20, 2026
• Indianapolis, IN
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Stream: USA Swimming Network (Downloadable App)

For the second time in the last two months and the third time overall, Aimee Canny took down the African Record in the women’s 200 freestyle on Wednesday morning during the opening session of the Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis.

Canny, a South African native fresh off completing her senior season at the University of Virginia, put up a time of 1:56.59 during the prelims in Indy, breaking her African and South African Record of 1:56.64 set at the South African Championships in April, which qualified her for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

In 2024, Canny took ownership of both records in the 200 free for the first time, clocking 1:56.80 to break Kirsty Coventry‘s African Record of 1:57.04 from 2008 and Karin Prinsloo‘s South African national record of 1:57.17 from 2014.

That performance qualified Canny for the 2024 Olympics, where she went on to place 12th in 1:57.34.

In her swim this morning, Canny held all of her 50 splits under 30 seconds for the first time. She went out in roughly the same pace as her two other record swims through the first 100. In 2024, she slipped over 30 seconds on the third 50 but rallied coming home. Earlier this year, she kept her foot on the gas on the third 50 but faded coming home. Today, she managed to push on the third 50, splitting 29.48, but kept things together on the final length.

Split Comparison

Despite improving her time by five one-hundredths, the 22-year-old actually falls one spot to 18th in the 2025-26 world rankings. Canny overtook Claire Weinstein (1:56.62), but was passed by Erin Gemmell, who led the Indianapolis prelims in 1:56.38, and Fan Yaqi, who posted a time of 1:56.57 on Wednesday at the Chinese National Championships.

Canny’s swim in the 200 free came shortly after she narrowly missed her lifetime best in the 200 IM prelims in Indianapolis, clocking 2:10.92 after setting a PB of 2:10.90 at the South African Nationals in April. Barring a scratch, she’ll be within striking distance of the SA national record in tonight’s final, which stands at 2:10.39 from Rebecca Meder last year.

Like the 200 free, Canny advanced 2nd overall into the final of the 200 IM, trailing Virginia training partner Kate Douglass (2:10.54).

Canny is coming off a phenomenal senior year at UVA, setting new SCY best times in the 200 free (1:41.68) and 200 IM (1:53.49) at the NCAA Championships in March, leading off the victorious 800 free relay in the former and placing 6th in the final of the latter. She was also 2nd in the 200 breast and 8th in the 400 IM at NCAAs, helping lead the Cavaliers to their sixth straight national title.

In her first long course meet of the season at SA Nationals in April, she set lifetime bests in the 100 free (54.27), 100 breast (1:06.57) and 200 breast (2:23.61) to go along with the 200 free and 200 IM.

After today, Canny is entered to swim the 400 free, 100 and 200 breast, and 400 IM over the final three days of the meet.