Van Niekerk Hits New South African LCM 50 Breast Record In Pretoria

2021 NTS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 14th – December 20th
• Hillcrest Swimming Pool, Pretoria, South Africa
• LCM (50m)
• Results – Meet Mobile “NTS Championships 2021

The 2021 Northern Tigers Swimming Championships took place last week from Pretoria, with swimmers given a chance to compete in long course meters before the holidays.

Among the swimmers in the meet were a trio of breaststrokers who were originally scheduled to attend the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi instead this week: Lara van Niekerk, Kaylene Corbett, and Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker.

The 18-year old Lara van Niekerk took full advantage of the opportunity, with the South 18-year-old African posting a lifetime best of 29.88 to take the women’s 50 breaststroke.

After claiming the top spot out of the heats with a morning mark of 30.41, the Pretoria Aquatic Club athlete ripped a winning effort of 29.88 to beat out teammate Kaylene Corbett by well over a second. Corbett snagged silver in 31.42 while Jenna-Laine Fuller rounded out the top 3 in 34.77

Van Niekerk’s effort renders her as the first South African to ever delve into sub-30 second territory in this long course meters 50 breaststroke. Her gold medal-worthy swim here overtakes the previous Sout African national standard of 30.21, which reigning 200m breaststroke world record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker captured this summer.

While van Niekerk’s swim was in long course meters, it was still only about half-a-second shy of the 29.34 that won the 50 breaststroke at the short course World Championships this week (short course times are generally faster than long course times). With big prize money on the line, including $15,000 for an individual gold medal, the travel ban could have cost her big money.

That’s not the only fast 50 breaststroke that we’ve seen this weekend at non-World Championship meets: Ruta Meilutyte swam 29.33, faster than the World Championship winning time, in Lithuania as well.

Both the times in South Africa and in Lithuania were done without the underwater camera judging system that is in place at the Short Course World Championships, however. The extra scrutiny from those cameras resulted in dozens of disqualifications, including medal contenders.

Also swimming at the meet was Olympic gold medalist and World Record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker. She swam the preliminary heats of the 50 breaststroke in 31.56 before scratching the final, and also swam a new Meet Record of 2:22.93 in the 200 breaststroke.

The 200 breaststroke is the same event where Schoenmaker won an Olympic gold medal over the summer in Tokyo, swimming a new World Record in the final. She also took silver in the 100 breaststroke at the Olympic Games.