Teenage star Callan Lötter confirmed her status as South Africa’s leading women’s open water swimmer after defending all three of her national titles at the Bombela Concession Company SA Open Water Championships at Marina Martinique near Jeffreys Bay.
The 19-year-old delivered a commanding performance across the weekend, winning the 10km, 5km and 3km knockout races to complete a clean sweep of the women’s events.
Lötter set the tone in the 10km marathon swim where she proved untouchable, becoming the only woman to break the two-hour barrier. She won the race in 1:59:36, finishing more than four minutes ahead of Hannah Neilson, who clocked 2:03:54. Carli Antonopoulos secured third place in 2:04:51.
“It feels really good. I’m very proud of myself,” Lötter said.
“Last year I tried to stay with everyone and then take it out at the end. 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.”
Her victory established clear water between herself and the rest of the field from early in the race as she controlled the tempo from the front.
Lötter added the 3km knockout title the following day in challenging conditions.
The format features three races in quick succession. The opening 1.5km round reduces the field to the top 20 swimmers, followed by a 1km race for the top 10 and a final 500m sprint after a ten-minute break.
“The race was really good, the conditions were very tough,” Lötter 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.”
She completed her hat-trick on Sunday in the 5km event, winning in 1:00:23 after fending off a close challenge from Neilson, who finished second in 1:00:37. Marony Jacobs placed third in 1:02:02.
“I was aware that Hannah was quite close to me on the first three laps and then I saw the rest of the pack was quite far behind,” Lötter said.
“So I tried to focus on my own race and see how far I could get ahead.”
While Lötter dominated the women’s races, the men’s 10km produced one of the most dramatic finishes of the championships.
Henré Louw claimed the national title in 1:54:46 after edging Byron Kimber by one second in a sprint finish. Connor Albertyn finished third in 1:54:55.
“It was definitely a tough race,” Louw said.
“The strategy was to sit back a bit this year and let the other guys do a little bit of work and then try my best at the back end of the race.”
The race took a dramatic turn on the final lap when Louw briefly lost ground.
“On the last lap I missed the buoy, I got pushed out a bit, so I had to turn back and I was probably about 30 metres behind those guys,” he said.
“I had to dig deep just trying to catch them on the last lap. When I got to the top buoy, I tried to push as hard as possible to the finish.”
Albertyn later secured victory in the men’s 5km race after another closely fought contest among the leading swimmers. He won in 57:26, finishing two seconds ahead of Matthew Caldwell, while Kimber placed third in 57:30.
“It was a very tough race. From the start to the finish, it was full pace from everyone,” Albertyn said.
“I don’t think there was a moment in that race when we were fully relaxed. We were constantly watching each other, especially Matt, Byron and Henré.”
Albertyn seized his opportunity on the final lap.
“I saw a bit of a gap and I took it. I kept my head down and kept pushing. I didn’t want to look back. I focused on the finish and doing everything I could to secure the win, and I managed to do so.”
Earlier in the championships, Caldwell won both the 3km knockout and the 3km race in 34:31. Leah Markgraaff claimed the women’s 3km title in 37:25 and also secured victory in the 7.5km race in 1:33:49. Wian Bartleman won the men’s junior 7.5km title in 1:25:47.
For full results: SA National Open Water Swimming Championships