Triple gold: Lötter dominates in Jeffreys Bay to defend national titles
Swimming
Teen swim star Callan Lötter successfully defendied all three of her national titles at the SA Open Water Championships at Marina Martinique, near Jeffreys Bay, over the weekend.
Image: Swimming South Africa
Callan Lötter confirmed her status as South Africa’s leading women’s open water swimmer by successfully defending all three of her national titles at the Bombela Concession Company SA Open Water Championships at Marina Martinique, near Jeffreys Bay, over the weekend.
The 19-year-old Pretoria swimmer produced a commanding display across the competition, winning the 10km, 5km and 3km knockout events to complete a remarkable hat-trick of national titles.
Lötter began her golden weekend in dominant fashion in the 10km marathon swim, where she was the only woman to dip under the two-hour mark. She stopped the clock in 1:59:36, finishing more than four minutes ahead of Hannah Neilson (2:03:54), while Carli Antonopoulos claimed third in 2:04:51.
“It feels really good. I’m very proud of myself,” said Lötter.
“Last year I just tried to stay with everyone and then take it out at the end, but this year my training has been much better, so I decided to take it out from the beginning and try and hold on and build a gap.”
She followed that up with victory in the demanding 3km knockout event, which is contested over three rounds – a 1.5km swim followed by a 1km race for the top 20 finishers, before a 500m sprint final for the top 10, with just 10 minutes between rounds.
With waves building as the race progressed, Lötter managed the conditions well, treating the opening round as a warm-up before increasing the pace in the later stages.
Henré Louw (centre) took top honours in the 10km marathon swim after a thrilling sprint finish, just one second ahead of Byron Kimber (right), with Connor Albertyn (left) third.
Image: Swimming South Africa
“The race was really good, the conditions were very tough,” she said. “The waves were picking up quite a lot at the end, so you had to work much harder to finish the race, but I’m happy with how it went.”
Lötter completed her clean sweep in Sunday’s 5km race, touching in 1:00:23 ahead of Neilson (1:00:37) and Marony Jacobs (1:02:02).
In the men’s 10km marathon swim, Midmar silver medallist Henré Louw claimed the national title after a dramatic sprint finish, winning in 1:54:46 – just one second ahead of Byron Kimber, with Connor Albertyn third in 1:54:55.
Albertyn bounced back to win the men’s 5km title in 57:26, edging Midmar gold medallist Matthew Caldwell and Kimber in another tightly contested race.