Van Niekerk Rediscovers Form

On 27 September 2025, Jessica Thompson added two more gold medals to her haul as Lara van Niekerk showed glimpses of her old self on day three of the Bombela Concession Company SA National (25m) Championships in Pietermaritzburg.

Thompson has already collected three national titles at these championships and added two more on Saturday, in the 50m freestyle, which she won in 24.19 seconds, just five hundredths of a second off the national record, and the 100m backstroke in 58.34 seconds.

“I think in the 50, you don’t have time to think – that’s the beauty about the races. It’s more just trusting in your training and you can’t think about it – your body goes into autopilot,” said the Johannesburg swimmer.

Speaking about racing national short course record holder Cailtin de Lange, who finished second in the freestyle in 24.65, Thompson added: “Caitlin is such an incredible swimmer, especially in the sprint free event so swimming against her I knew I had to be on my best game, top form and it was really nice having her next to me so I could get that extra push.”

Meanwhile, after a year of battling back from injury, illness and numerous disappointments, Van Niekerk looked to be in a much happier place as she added the 50m breaststroke title to the 100m gold she won on the opening day of competition. The 22-year-old took the win in a time of 30.04 seconds and while she was hoping for a sub-30-second time, she said afterwards: “I can just take this as a positive. It’s faster than I went at worlds last year, so it’s baby steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we’re getting there.”

As for the mental aspect, the double Commonwealth Games champion added: “I’ve just got back to why I started swimming in the beginning and I’m really enjoying it again. I love going to training every day and at least I’m enjoying racing again. There was a stage last year where I was scared of racing, so it’s good. It means I’m improving as a person and I’m getting back there.”

Chris Smith took the men’s 50m backstroke title in 26.31 seconds, but said afterwards, he wasn’t expecting too much more from himself in terms of the time.

“I think it was good, especially for this time of year. It’s a bit more than half a second away from my personal best time, but overall I’m happy,” he said afterwards.

In the absence of Chad le Clos, Tai Pearson finally got his hands on two gold medals on Saturday – in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. He took the win in the 100m backstroke in 53.29 seconds and followed that up with the IM gold in 2:01.49.

After several second places to the returning Le Clos, Pearson admitted he was pleased to finally have topped the podium.

“It’s been hard the past two days racing Chad in my events because I’m a butterfly swimmer, and freestyle, so I came second in three events and he came first, so I’m really happy with getting the double now,” said the 18-year-old. “It was a tough one, so the legs are definitely hurting.”

Duné Coetzee returned to winning ways in the 400m freestyle, winning in a time of 4 minutes 11.38 seconds. Having recently moved back to Pretoria after finishing her studies in the USA, the 23-year-old has been pleased with her progress.

“I’ve only been swimming with Rocco [Meiring] for about two months, so I’m really happy with all my solid performances… This meet was just kind of to see where I’m at and what we need to do in training, so I’m very happy,” she said.

The men’s 400m freestyle title went to Matthew Caldwell, who won in 3:48.47.

Keira van Heerden made a return to the podium, completing an individual medley double, adding to her 400m IM gold by holding off a fast-finishing Georgia Els to win the 200m event in 2:14.79.

And there was a first-ever national title for Armand Landmann, who won the 50m freestyle in 22.09 seconds.

The Bombela Concession Company SA National (25m) Championships in Pietermaritzburg will come to an end on Sunday.