By Zimbabwe Olympic Committee Media
Top Zimbabwe swimmer Paige Van Der Westhuizen is proud have achieved a major milestone breaking legend, Kirsty Coventry’s 50-meter women open age group free style national record.
Van Der Westhuizen clocked 26.18 seconds at the Edinburgh International Championships on March 13 to set a new national record.
The 22-year-old is particularly pleased to be following in the footsteps of the swimming icon who won seven Olympic medals.
“I think it’s quite a big relief as it’s a record, I have been close to and trying to get for a few years now. And obviously it’s a bit more special being Kirsty’s record as she was the best Zimbabwean swimmer in history so being able to follow in her footsteps and prove that I am slowly getting to that top level is great,” Van Der Westhuizen said.
She is one of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee’s recipients of the LA 28 Olympic Solidarity Scholarships for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
She is aiming high for the LA28 Games but for now she has her sights on the upcoming competitions including the Irish nationals taking place in April and African Senior Aquatics championships set for Ghana in May.
Her last competition of the season will be Scottish Summer Long Course Championships taking place in June in Edinburgh.
“My goals for the season are to keep improving and getting closer to the Olympic qualification times and to try aim for as many of Kirsty’s records as I can. In Ghana I am hoping to bring home a few medals for Zimbabwe. So far it has been great I had a very strong short course season breaking 4 national records. And I want to continue that momentum into this long course season.”
She broke the 50-meter freestyle (twice), the 50-meter breaststroke and the 1500-meter freestyle records.