South African Sportswoman of the Year

F-Teamer Lara van Niekerk has been crowned the South African Sportswoman of the Year for 2022, and was also awarded the Minister’s Excellence Award by the South African Minister of Sport. The SA Sports Awards are organised by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

2022 was a year of records and medals for Lara, starting in April in Port Elizabeth, where she stamped her authority setting a Commonwealth, African and South African Record in the LC 50 Breaststroke (29.72). This set the tone for her year, where she mixed it with the world’s best on numerous occasions.

At the 2022 FINA Long Course World Championships (Budapest) she claimed a bronze in the 50 Breast behind Lithuanian Rūta Meilutytė and Italian Benedetta Pilato, again breaking the 30-second barrier (29.90).

The Commonwealth Games was the highlight of a stellar year, where she won double gold in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke. In the 100, she blitzed the field by over 1-second (1:05.47), and she was the only woman under 30-seconds in the final of the 50 (29.73) to set a new Games Record.

At the 2022 FINA Short Course World Championships in Melbourne van Niekerk won the bronze in the 50m Breaststroke (29.09). In doing so, Lara broke the African and South African records in the heats, semis and final. She was hot on the heels of Rūta Meilutytė, who broke the World Record (28.37) in the semis and claimed the gold in the final.

After her South African trials mid April, Lara has a big international race calendar set for the rest of 2023 with racing planned in the UK and throughout Europe for the Mare Nostrum tour. We can't wait to see what Lara can achieve in 2023 leading into Paris. Be sure to follow Lara to keep up with all of her results @lara_vn_