The first leg of the SA Grand Prix Invitational Swimming Meet concluded in Nelspruit today
Gallagher dominated the finals, adding three gold medals to her tally in the 50 and 200m freestyle as well as the 100m butterfly.
In the 50m freestyle, the 20 year old clocked a fast 25.97 to Inge Weidemann’s 27.46 and Amica de Jager’s 27.79, while in the 200m freestyle she finished in 2:04.44 ahead of Rebecca Meder in 2:04.53 and Dune Coetzee in 2:04.65.
The 100m butterfly saw Gallagher race to the gold in 1:01.32, followed by Coetzee in 1:02.79 and Trinity Hearne in 1:03.80, while Coetzee went one better in the 800m freestyle, winning the event in 9:10.94 to Hannah Robertson’s 9:17.48 and Kristin Bellingan’s 9:36.31.
Meder also made her way to the top of the medal podium in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:19.83 ahead of Jessica Whelan in 2:24.29 and Hearne in 2:25.55, while Hanim Abrahams won the 100m breaststroke in 1:15.23 and Lindsay McLoed the 200m backstroke in 2:24.87.
Sweeney scooped two gold medals during the last day of the competition in the 400m individual medley and the 200m breaststroke.
In the medley race, the 25 year old was over 7secs ahead of the group, touching the wall in 4:29.58 ahead of Luca Holtzhausen in 4:37.83 and Jonathan Bennett in 4:45.94, while in the 200m breaststroke, Sweeney won the title in 2:16.58 to Alaric Basson’s 2:18.43 and Bailey Musgrave’s 2:20.79.
In the 100m backstroke, Martin Binedell took the honours in 58.02, while the silver was shared between Pieter Coetze and Dylan Wright as they both touched the wall in 1:00.05.
Binedell also grabbed the silver in the 100m freestyle in 52.08, ahead of Matthew Bosch in 52.35 and behind Douglas Erasmus in 51.43, while Wright won his second silver in the 400m freestyle in 4:12.17 to Calvin Coetzee’s golden time of 4:09.86 and Ethan de Preez’s bronze time of 4:13.42.
Du Preez went two better in the 200m freestyle, winning the race in 2:04.05 ahead of Tiago Cordeiro in 2:05.83 and Gavin Smith in 2:09.01.
In the U13 youth events, PE’s Khwezi Jacobs (11) was once again on top, bagging the gold in the 50m freestyle in 30.26 and later on finishing the 100m freestyle with the silver medal in 1:06.68, while Simone Henning won the 100m backstroke in 1:21.96.
Byron Smit (13) finished the 100m butterfly with a golden time of 1:09.80 and followed that performance with two silver medals in the 100m breaststroke in 1:20.57 and the 200m individual medley in 2:38.40.
The second and final leg of the Grand Prix will be held in Stellenbosch from 22nd to 24th February 2019.
ENDS
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Swimming South Africa is the governing body of aquatics in South Africa.
Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in South Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to South Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level. Swimming South Africa is kindly supported by SASCOC, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Arena, Sport & Recreation SA and Rand Water.