KNYSNA NEWS - Superstar seems to be the only description that fits young Knysna swimmer Aimee Canny, who returned from the SA Invitational Aquatics Championships with three medals, two new SA and African relay records, and two Olympic qualification times.
The championships were held at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha from 7 to 12 April, doubling as both the Paralympic and Olympic trials for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics in late July and early August.
Carrying over her great form from the training camp in Stellenbosch in February, Canny earned three individual medals at Olympic Trials, winning silver in both the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley events.
She earned gold in the 200m freestyle event, with a time of 2:00.19 and finished fifth in the 50m freestyle event.
But, it would ultimately be in the relay races that her contribution was felt the most. In the 4x100m freestyle relay, Canny alongside Erin Gallagher, Emma Chelius and Rebecca Meder, achieved a time of 3:40.29, breaking the SA and African records set two months ago.
Perhaps most outstanding, however, is that their time could make them the first ever SA women's 4x100m freestyle relay team to qualify for the Olympics.
Canny swum again in the 4x100m medley relay, and with Gallagher, Meder and Tatjana Schoenmaker, broke another SA and African record with a time of 4:01.92, which also could qualify the team for the Olympics.
However, Olympic qualification is not so simple. The top 12 teams from the previous World Championships automatically qualify for the following Olympics.
This leaves just four places open for the next fastest teams in the world.
According to SA swimming head coach Graham Hill, South Africa now occupies one of the four available spots in both of the relays mentioned above. "In the 4x100m freestyle relay we lie second and in the 4x100m medley relay, first," he explained. However, there is still the chance that the SA times are beaten before the qualification deadline at the end of May.
He, along with many others, is proud of how far SA women's swimming has come since the Rio Olympics in 2016 - where the only woman SA swimmer was Michelle Weber in the 10km open water event.
"People asked us about our women swimmers after Rio, but we knew back then already, we had a good crop of young swimmers coming through, and it was only a matter of developing them," Hill said, speaking to KPH.
This is evident in the fact that, between the two relay teams mention-ed above, the oldest swimmer is Chelius at only 24 years, while Canny is the youngest, at 17. He is also confident the ladies have done enough to qualify for the Olympics. "There aren't many other strong countries who can eclipse our times, so we are very positive we can make it."
Canny's mother, Denni-Lyn, is immensely proud of her daughter. "Aimee's worked so hard to qualify for the Olympics with her coach Francois Boshoff and to see this work pay dividends is so rewarding," she said.
Because of her preparations to depart for the UK, Canny was unable to talk to KPH. She will be attending a school in the UK with a reputable swimming programme to further her career.
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