2025 SOUTH AFRICAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, September 25th – Sunday, September 28th
- Prelims at 8:30am local (2:30am ET)/Finals at 5:00pm (11am ET)
- GC Jolliffe Swimming Pool, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
- SCM (25m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Psych Sheet
- Results: Meet Mobile – Bombela SASC Swimming Champs (25m) PMBF 25
Day two of the 2025 South African Short Course Championships brought about the first national record of the competition.
Racing in the final of the women’s 50m backstroke, 18-year-old Jessica Thompson fired off a winning time of 26.85.
That not only established a big-time personal best for the Cardinal Aquatics athlete but it erased the former South African standard of 26.89 Chanelle Van Wyk put on the books during the 2009 supersuit era.
Additionally, Thompson’s effort tied Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry‘s African record of 26.85, which the now-International Olympic Committee president notched a year earlier at the 2008 World Championships.
Entering this meet, Thompson’s 50m back personal best rested at the 26.97 she clocked at last year’s edition of these championships.
On her accomplishment, Thompson stated, “It’s so good, especially after last night. I think it was a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but I’m really happy to have gotten it tonight and just getting that time is a really big deal for me.”
As for having Van Wyk on hand to watch her break her 2009 record, Thompson added: “It was really nice to have her there and seeing where swimming in South Africa is progressing to.”
Quotes courtesy of Swimming South Africa.
Will she come over to Virginia halfway through this season or not till next season because of how South Africa’s school is structured?
South Africans usually join their teams in the spring, and last we heard that was the plan here.
Who’s in the picture?
Van Wyk on left with Thompson on right