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Lara van Niekerk (born 13 May 2003) is a South African competitive swimmer. She is the current African, South African, and Commonwealth record holder in the long course 50-metre breaststroke and the African and South African record holder in the short course 50-metre breaststroke. At the 2018 African Swimming Championships, she won gold medals in the 50-metre breaststroke, 100-metre breaststroke, 200-metre breaststroke, and the 4×100-metre medley relay. She won the bronze medal in the 50-metre breaststroke at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. She is the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion in the 50-metre breaststroke and the 100-metre breaststroke.

Lara van Niekerk
Personal information
National team South Africa
Born (2003-05-13) 13 May 2003 (age 19)[1]
South Africa
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBreaststroke
CoachEugene da Ponte[2]
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  South Africa
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Championships 0 0 1
Commonwealth Games 2 0 0
African Championships 4 0 0
Total 6 0 1
World Championships (LC)
2022 Budapest50 m breaststroke
Commonwealth Games
2022 Birmingham 50 m breaststroke
2022 Birmingham 100 m breaststroke
African Championships
2018 Algiers 50 m breaststroke
2018 Algiers 100 m breaststroke
2018 Algiers 200 m breaststroke
2018 Algiers 4×100 m medley
African Junior Championships
2017 Cairo 50 m breaststroke
2017 Cairo 100 m breaststroke
2017 Cairo 4×100 m medley
2017 Cairo 4×100 m mixed medley
2017 Cairo 200 m breaststroke

Background


Van Niekerk was born 13 May 2003 in South Africa.[1]


Career



2017 African Junior Championships


At the 2017 African Junior Swimming Championships in Cairo, Egypt in March, Van Niekerk won a total of five medals including gold medals in the 100-metre breaststroke, 4×100-metre mixed medley relay, 50-metre breaststroke, 4×100-metre medley relay, and a silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke.[1]


2018 African Championships


2018 African Championships
200 m breaststroke 2:35.25
50 m breaststroke 31.99 (CR)
100 m breaststroke 1:11.13
4×100 m medley 4:12.83

In 2018, at the year's African Swimming Championships in Algiers, Algeria, Van Niekerk won a gold medal in each of the four events she competed.[3] She won her first gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke with a time of 2:35.25.[3][4] For her second gold medal, she won the 50-metre breaststroke with a new Championships record time of 31.99 seconds, which broke the former record of 32.06 seconds set by Tilka Paljk of Zambia in the prelims heats.[3][5] In the 100-metre breaststroke, she won her third gold medal of the Championships, finishing over eight-tenths of a second ahead of the silver medalist in the event with a time of 1:11.13.[3][6] For her fourth and final event of the Championships, she concluded with another gold medal, this time helping win the 4×100-metre medley relay in 4:12.83, splitting a 1:10.40 for the breaststroke leg of the relay.[3][7]


2019 World Junior Championships


The following year, Van Niekerk competed in four events at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, placing fourth in the 50-metre breaststroke with a 31.12, 20th in the 100-metre breaststroke with a 1:10.95, 30th in the 200-metre breaststroke with a 2:36.91, and tenth in 4:15.71 as part of the 4×100-metre medley relay with a split of 1:11.42 for the breaststroke leg of the relay.[8]


2021


At the 2021 South Africa National Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg in September, Van Niekerk set two new African and South African records in the short course 50-metre breaststroke, first setting a mark of 30.06 seconds in the prelims heats, then lowering her records to a time of 29.85 seconds in the final.[9][10] Her swim made her the first South African woman to swim the race in less than 30 seconds.[9][11] Approximately two months later, she set new African, South African, and Commonwealth records in the long course 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 29.88 seconds at the 2021 Northern Tigers Swimming Championships in Pretoria.[11][12] With her time of 29.88 seconds, she also became the first South African woman to finish the event faster than 30 seconds and the seventh-fastest female swimmer in the event in history.[11][13]


2022


Van Niekerk swam faster than 1:07.00 in the long course 100-metre breaststroke twice at the 2022 Grand Prix international meet number two in Durban in February, first swimming a personal best time of 1:06.52 in the preliminary heats, then a 1:06.74 in the final.[14][15]


2022 South Africa National Championships (LC)

For the 2022 South Africa National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha in April, in part a selection meet to determine the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games South Africa team members, Van Niekerk entered to compete in the 50-metre breaststroke, 50-metre freestyle, 50-metre butterfly, and 100-metre breaststroke.[16] On the first day of competition, 6 April, she set new African, South African, and Commonwealth records in the 50-metre breaststroke, lowering her former mark of 29.88 seconds from 2021 to 29.72 seconds in the prelims heats of the event.[17][18][19][20] The records were ratified by the governing body for aquatic sports in South Africa, Swimming South Africa, on 7 April 2022.[20]

In the final, Van Niekerk placed first in 30.60 seconds, finishing 0.27 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Tatjana Schoenmaker and attaining a qualifying time for both the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.[21][22][23] In the prelims heats of the 50-metre freestyle on day two, she swam a 27.53 in prelims heat six and did not advance to the final in the evening.[24] For the 50-metre butterfly prelims heats on day three, she placed sixth in prelims heat one with a time of 28.57 seconds, not making the top eight across all prelims heats and thus not qualifying for the evening final.[25] On the fourth day, in the prelims heats of the 100-metre breaststroke, she swam a personal best time of 1:06.08 and qualified for the evening final, where she went on to swim a personal best time of 1:05.67 to win the gold medal and achieve a qualifying time for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.[26][27][28] She was named to both the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games teams.[29][30]


2022 World Aquatics Championships

2022 World Championships
50 m breaststroke 29.90

In her first event of the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 100-metre breaststroke, Van Niekerk qualified for the evening semifinals with a time of 1:06.75 and rank of tenth from the preliminaries.[31] She equalled her time of 1:06.75 in the semifinals, this time placing thirteenth and not advancing to the final.[32][33] In the preliminaries of the 50-metre breaststroke five days later, she ranked first overall with a time of 29.77 seconds and advanced to the semifinals.[34][35][36] She finished in a time of 29.99 seconds in the semifinals, qualifying for the final ranking third behind Benedetta Pilato of Italy and Rūta Meilutytė of Lithuania.[37] In the final of the 50-metre breaststroke, she won the first medal for South Africa in any aport at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, a bronze medal with a time of 29.90 seconds, and continued on the streak of South Africa winning at least one medal at a FINA World Aquatics Championships since 2001.[38][39][2]


2022 Commonwealth Games

2022 Commonwealth Games
50 m breaststroke 29.73 (GR)
100 m breaststroke 1:05.47

On the first day of swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, England starting the month following the World Championships, Van Niekerk ranked first in the preliminaries of the 50-metre breaststroke, setting a new Games record with her time of 29.82 seconds and qualifying for the semifinals.[40][41][42][43] She lowered her Games record to a 29.80 in the semifinals, qualifying for the final ranking first.[44][45][46] In the final the following day, she won the gold medal with a Games record time of 29.73 seconds.[47][48][49] Her gold medal was the first medal of any kind for South Africa at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in any sport.[50][51][52]

Day four, Van Niekerk qualified for the semifinals of the 100-metre breaststroke with a 1:06.40 in the morning preliminaries, which was 0.70 seconds ahead of second-ranked Tatjana Schoenmaker.[53] Swimming under the 1:06.00 threshold for the first time at a Commonwealth Games in the semifinals with a time of 1:05.96, she qualified for the final of the event along with fellow South Africans Tatjana Schoenmaker, who ranked second, and Kaylene Corbett, who ranked seventh.[54] She won the gold medal in the final with a personal best time of 1:05.47.[55][56][57] Later in the session, she helped set new African and South African records in the 4×100-metre mixed medley relay in the final, splitting a 1:05.41 to contribute to the new records's time of 3:44.38 and help place fourth.[58] Day six of six, she split a 1:05.56 in the final of the 4×100-metre medley relay, contributing to a fourth-place finish less than two-tenths of a second behind the team from England in a new African and South African record time of 3:59.63.[59]


2022 South Africa National Championships (SC)

At the 2022 South Africa Short Course Championships, held in mid-August in Pietermaritzburg, Van Niekerk set a new African record in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 29.62 seconds, which doubled as a qualifying time for the 2022 World Short Course Swimming Championships.[60][61][62] Prior to setting the new record and winning the gold medal in the evening final, she set a new record of 29.67 seconds in the morning preliminaries heats.[62] She also achieved a qualifying time, and the national title, in the 200-metre breaststroke with a personal best time of 2:22.75.[63] Earlier in the Championships, she achieved qualifying and personal best times in the 100-metre breaststroke twice, first in the preliminaries heats with a time of 1:04.92, and second in the final of the event with a 1:04.89 to win the gold medal and national title.[64]


International championships (50m)


Meet 50 breaststroke 100 breaststroke 200 breaststroke 4×100 medley relay 4×100 mixed medley relay
Junior level
AJC 2017
WJC 20194th20th30th10th
Senior level
AC 2018
WC 202213th
CG 20224th4th

Personal best times



Long course metres (50 m pool)


Event Time Meet Location Date Notes Ref
50 m breaststroke 29.72 h 2022 SA National Swimming Championships Gqeberha 6 April 2022 AF, NR, CR [17]
100 m breaststroke 1:05.47 2022 Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England 2 August 2022 [55]
200 m breaststroke 2:31.30 2021 South Africa Grand Prix No. 4 Durban 29 May 2021 [1]

Legend: AF – African record; NR – South African record; CR – Commonwealth record


Short course metres (25 m pool)


Event Time Meet Location Date Notes Ref
50 m breaststroke 29.62 2022 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 13 August 2022 AF, NR [60]
100 m breaststroke 1:04.89 2022 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 11 August 2022 [64]
200 m breaststroke 2:22.75 2022 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 14 August 2022 [63]

Legend: AF – African record; NR – South African record


Continental and national records



Long course metres (50 m pool)


No. Event Time Meet Location Date Type Status Notes Ref
1 50 m breaststroke 29.88 2021 Northern Tigers Swimming Championships Pretoria 20 December 2021 AF, NR Former Former CR [11][12]
2 50 m breaststroke (2) 29.72 h 2022 SA National Swimming Championships Gqeberha 6 April 2022 AF, NR Current CR [17][18][19][20]
3 4×100 m mixed medley 3:44.38 2022 Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England 2 August 2022 AF, NR Current [58]
4 4×100 m medley 3:59.63 2022 Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England 3 August 2022 AF, NR Current [59]
Legend: AF – African record; CR – Commonwealth record; NR – South African record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Short course metres (25 m pool)


No. Event Time Meet Location Date Type Status Ref
1 50 m breaststroke 30.06 h 2021 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 16 September 2021 AF, NR Former [10]
2 50 m breaststroke (2) 29.85 2021 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 16 September 2021 AF, NR Former [9][10]
3 50 m breaststroke (3) 29.67 h 2022 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 13 August 2022 AF, NR Former [62]
4 50 m breaststroke (4) 29.62 2022 South Africa National Short Course Championships Pietermaritzburg 13 August 2022 AF, NR Current [60][61][62]
Legend: AF – African record; NR – South African record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Awards and honours



See also



References


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