2026 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 14th – Saturday, April 18th
- Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Results: Meet Mobile – SA National Aquatic SNR-Champ 2026-PE
Day three of the 2026 South African National Swimming Championships wrapped up last night from Gqeberha but not before 22-year-old Aimee Canny secured another Commonwealth Games-worthy performance.
Taking on the women’s 200m breaststroke, NCAA champion Canny ripped a time of 2:23.61 to get her hand on the wall first, crushing a new lifetime best in the process.
Canny, who already won the 100m sprint of the discipline, split 32.82/26.59 to narrowly defeat World Championships medalist Kaylene Corbett.
Corbett settled for silver in 2:23.72 while defending champion Rebecca Meder rounded out the podium well behind in 2:27.36.
Canny already scored a new African record in the 200m free on day one so the versatile performer is racking up the wins as each day moves along.
On her claiming the 100m/200m breast double here, Canny told Swimming South Africa, “I definitely didn’t think I couldn’t do it, but I hadn’t really thought much about how much I’d improve at this meet.
Training’s been going really well, so I’m super happy that it’s kind of paying off in the pool.”
26-year-old Corbett said post-race, after having gotten caught by Canny on the final meters of the contest, “I knew that we were going to go similar speeds out. And it was really fun on that last wall. I knew she was ahead of me, and I knew it was my last event, so I just kind of gave everything I could.”
Corbett continued, “I’m trying to start a new tactic, seeing how fast I can go out, trying to set out the pace that I need to go. So I think I’m… really happy with how I executed the race. I knew that Becky and Aimee were going to come back hard in the second hundred, so I just tried to hold on to anything that I had.
“She just out-touched me, but… it’s the name of the sport and you should be able to take these things on the chin and move on. It’s just really nice to see how we can empower one another and swim together and really enjoy being in a competitive environment with the girls that you love. You want to see them succeed just as much as they want to see you succeed. So I can’t complain that Aimee beat me.”
As a result of tonight’s affair, Canny ranks 8th in the world and Corbett ranks 11th on the season.
2025-2026 LCM Women 200 BREAST
Evans
2:19.70
| 2 | Evgenia Chikunova | RUS | 2:20.59 | 06/09 |
| 3 | Kate Douglass | USA | 2:20.86 | 12/06 |
| 4 | Mona McSharry | IRL | 2:22.22 | 04/10 |
| 5 | Lisa ANGIOLINI | ITA | 2:22.28 | 04/15 |
| 6 | Moon Sua | KOR | 2:23.21 | 10/21 |
| 7 | Tes Schouten | NED | 2:23.35 | 04/11 |
| 8 | Alexanne Lepage | CAN | 2:23.40 | 05/24 |
| 9 | Sieun Park | KOR | 2:23.48 | 10/20 |
| 10 | Aimee CANNY | RSA | 2:23.61 | 06/18 |
| 11 | Lyu Jinyao | CHN | 2:23.63 | 11/15 |
| 12 | Kaylene Corbett | RSA | 2:23.72 | 04/16 |
| 13 | Abbie Wood | GBR | 2:23.76 | 03/15 |
| 14 | Kotryna Teterevkova | LTU | 2:23.92 | 04/25 |
| 15 | Ella RAMSAY | AUS | 2:24.04 | 06/12 |
Continuing his successful campaign at these championships was 21-year-old Pretoria swimmer Pieter Coetze.
Already the 100m back and 50m back champion here, Coetze tried the men’s 100m free on for size, where he found success in a swift performance of 48.18.
The world champion opened in 23.03 and closed in 25.15 to get the job done, beating the field by nearly a second.
Guy Brooks was next to the wall in 49.04 and 18-year-old Kris Mihaylov bagged the bronze in 49.63. Of note, Georgia Bulldog Ruard van Renen was the 4th-place finisher in a result of 49.72.
As for Coetze, his time was within striking distance of his best-ever outing of 47.88 from last year’s World University Games.
Coetze told Swimming South Africa after his Commonwealth Games-worthy swim, “I messed up my dive a little bit. I don’t know what it was. I feel like my hands maybe split a bit on the dive, but I’m glad I recovered it well.
“I knew I wanted to be out fast. I want to be sub-23 going out because that’s just what the top guys are going out in, so I was hoping to be out under 23, but I’m happy with that.”
Coetze ranks just outside the list of top 15 performers in the world this season.
The women’s 100m freestyle was won by national record holder Erin Gallagher, who finished in 55.12 seconds, with Olivia Nel a close second in 55.17. Jessica Thompson also landed on the podium, hitting 55.50, good enough for bronze.
Gallagher’s time missed the Commonwealth Games qualification, although she already made the cut in the women’s 100m butterfly earlier in the competition.
“I couldn’t see anything to be honest… But I just knew that we were all going to be so close together,” said Gallagher. “So, I think I closed my eyes for the last 20 metres. I didn’t breathe for the last 10. My legs literally are broken, but between Liv and I, it was so close. I’m just obviously happy I got my hand on the wall first, but I mean, a great swim to Liv and all the other girls too.”
Additional winners included Shaun Thomas taking the men’s 200m breast in 2:15.00, Karl Albertyn reaping gold in the men’s 400m IM in 4:24.83 and Catherine van Rensburg topping the women’s 400m IM podium in a result of 4:56.26.
The competition continues through Saturday, April 18th.
Commonwealth Games qualifiers through day 3:
- Aimee Canny: 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley
- Pieter Coetzé: 50, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle
- Kaylene Corbett: 200m breaststroke
- Erin Gallagher: 100m butterfly
- Rebecca Meder: 200m individual medley
- Jessica Thompson: 50m backstroke
- Ruard van Renen: 50, 100m backstroke
