Van Der Merwe Clocks 1:06.06 SCM 100 Breast British Junior Record

2019 MANCHESTER INT’L SWIM MEET

While competing at the 2019 Manchester International Swim Meet, 16-year-old Kayla Van Der Merwe fired off a new British Junior Record in the short course meters (SCM) 100 breaststroke.

Entering the meet, Van Der Merwe’s personal best in this event stood at the 1:07.21 she logged in 2018, an outing that represented the reigning British Junior Record.

Flash forward to this weekend, however, and the Winchester Penguin blasted a monster result of 1:06.06 to lay waste to that previous lifetime best and take gold in the 17&U category at the Manchester Aquatics Centre

Splits for Van Der Merwe’s record-setting performance include 31.28/34.78, giving her the victory, while also beating the senior final’s winning time of 1:06.77 produced by elite Loughborough athlete Jocelyn Ulyett.

Van Der Merwe’s performance rockets her up the British all-time rankings, all ages, now tying Corrie Scott for 10th.

The teen’s record is simply par for the course, with Van Der Merwe breaking out this summer with 100m breast gold (1:07.12) and 200m breast bronze (2:26.06) at the European Junior Championships. She followed that up with another set of medals at the World Junior Championships, claiming 50m breast silver (30.91) and 100m breast bronze (1:07.06), the latter of which stands as the British Age Record for 16-year-olds.

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Linny
4 years ago

Fine swim, but unless they have changed the rules, she is too old to claim a Short Course Junior Record. For that she would have had to be under 16 on the day of the swim which as a girl born in 2002, even if born late in the year, she cannot be.

leisurely1:29
4 years ago

She sure does get a lot of press for some unknown 16 year old girl…

Troyy
Reply to  leisurely1:29
4 years ago

I’m sure you’d be complaining about her getting a lot of press if she were American.

Dee
Reply to  leisurely1:29
4 years ago

Swimswam do a brilliant job of reporting swim news from all over the world. I’ve read Italian language articles, German language articles, and stories about SCY HS records. It isn’t just American college swimmers and superstars who deserve recognition, and if you don’t like it, why not just stick to reading the articles that interest you, like most people? Honestly, I’ll never understand why people feel the need to be openly negative – If it is no interest to you, just skip to the next article.

Jeff
4 years ago

I think we are going to see that British junior record go down many times as the season goes on. Think she has a lot of potential to do some great things these next couple of years.

Dee
Reply to  Jeff
4 years ago

She really does. I saw her in December last year and put her name up on her, she hadn’t broken 1.10 LC at the time but somebody said to me she’d be the NR holder one day. Didn’t think she’d be within .7 of it just 9 months later.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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