The Open Water swimmers kicked off the first leg of the SA Grand Prix in Nelspruit

In the 10km event, it was Olympian Michelle Weber that came out on top in a fast 1:57:28.95, followed by Rebecca Meder in 1:58:02.65 and Abi Meder in 2:01:23.05, while on the men’s side, Cape Town’s Dylan Wright claimed the gold in 1:57:36.25 ahead of Pretoria’s Henre Louw in 1:58:0314 and fellow team-mate Andrew Ritchie in 1:59:05.68.

Bloemfontein’s David Leukes and Gauteng’s Ayesha Valli competed in the 3km race and finished in 47:00.38 and 52:37.98, respectively.

The participants from this weekend’s Open Water competition will be looking forward to the SA National Open Water Championships, which will be held in Jeffrey’s Bay on 3rd and 4th March 2018 and will double as the official qualification event for the World Youth Open Water Championships in Israel later in the year.

The SA Grand Prix continues tomorrow with the Open Water section starting at 08h00, while the swimming finals session will begin at 14h00.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Swimming South Africa

011 404 2480

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.