Aimee shines in Maritzburg

Knysna’s young swimming star, Aimee Canny, has been flying high at the 2020 SA Short Course Championships, earning herself five medals, a new SA record, and a world champs qualification time – achievements made all the more significant as she is typically a long-course swimmer.

Aimee in training in Knysna on Monday 19 October. Photos: Blake Linder

The competition kicked off on Saturday 24 October, and Aimee powered her way to a third-place finish in the open women’s age group 400m freestyle event in a time of 4:09.90.

On Sunday, Aimee took on the 200m individual medley (IM) and bettered her recently set personal best time by two seconds, finishing in 2:13.84 and clocking the third-fastest heat time. She did not, however, compete in the 200m IM final, as this event was too close on the programme to the 200m freestyle race.

This decision paid off for Aimee as she won gold in the 200m freestyle event, clocking another personal best time of 1:56:78 but narrowly missing out on a World Short Course Championships (WSCC) qualifying time.

Speaking after her race, Aimee said she’s not too fazed about missing the world qualifying time, and added, “I wanted to finish under 1:58:00, so I’m really happy with my time,” she said.

Her first item on Monday was the 100m freestyle, for which she qualified with the fastest time in the heats. Erin Gallagher, however, took gold in the final thanks to a time of 53:90. This was only 0.37 seconds ahead of Aimee, who secured silver with a time of 54:27. Later, in the 100m IM heats, Aimee qualified second with a time of 1:02:20. Determined, she fought hard in the final, and thanks to her time of 1:00:31, she earned her second gold of the meet and managed to secure her first senior SA record, as well as a WSCC qualifying time.

On the final day, Aimee took on the challenge of the 50m freestyle, lining up against Erin once again. With a time of 25:39, she secured a silver medal, only 0.59 seconds behind Erin.

Aimee’s mother, Denni-Lynn, said Aimee was chuffed with her results, especially considering that she had recently been focusing on longer-distance races.

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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News