Catherine Eland is making a splash in swimming circles as the young budding talent continues to make history after a stellar start to her swimming career.
After breaking six Border records in the nine-year-old age category last year, the Harlequins Aquatic Club swimmer has repeated the feat since turning 10 in December, breaking a further six Border swimming records this year and has set some of the quickest times in the country in the 10-and-under age group.
“Catherine is a lovely young swimmer who is part of a dynamic bunch of girls that I train at Harlequins,” said her coach Vionne Skinner.
“She is a very humble girl and excels at many things, not just swimming.
“She trains very hard, corrects herself when I correct stroke; she works hard at what she does and when she races is incredibly strong mentally. I think that is her biggest feature.”
Currently at Stirling Primary School, Eland is the quickest swimmer over 50m butterfly in the country having clocked a blistering 34.48 which she set at the SA Level 1 Regional Age Group Champs in Malmesbury, Cape Town earlier this year.
She is ranked second in the country in 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke, third in the country in 50m and 100m freestyle, fourth in 200m Individual Medley (IM) and fifth in 200m backstroke according to this year’s SA swim rankings on www.swimsa.org.
These are some fantastic results and bodes well for her future as she looks to improve and better herself over the coming years.
At the Level 1 Champs Eland claimed a top haul of six gold medals and a silver in the seven events she competed in. Her golds came in the 50m and 100m distances of the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly divisions, while she claimed her silver in the 200m IM.
An incredible feat on one day at the champs she broke the Border 100m freestyle record and 50m butterfly record in the morning heats and then returned the evening to break her own records in both those events again.
The 100m Border freestyle record that Eland broke had been standing since 2012. The other five Border records she broke this year had all been standing for over 10 years.
Terri-Ann Brown's 200m IM record set in 2004 was broken, Candice Lennox’s 50m and 100m backstroke records, set in 2002 and 2003 respectively were broken, as well as Donne Bezuidenhout's 50m and 100m butterfly records that had stood since 1997 were all taken over by Eland.
With still a bit of swimming to be done over the rest of this year, Eland will be eyeing a few other records and will be aiming to continue improving and getting better with the possibility of one day representing her country further down the line. “I hope Catherine can break an SA record this year at one of the away winter galas or even Border champs, I think she is capable of doing it,” said Skinner.
Catherine the Great real hot
After breaking six Border records in the nine-year-old age category last year, the Harlequins Aquatic Club swimmer has repeated the feat since turning 10 in December, breaking a further six Border swimming records this year and has set some of the quickest times in the country in the 10-and-under age group.
“Catherine is a lovely young swimmer who is part of a dynamic bunch of girls that I train at Harlequins,” said her coach Vionne Skinner.
“She is a very humble girl and excels at many things, not just swimming.
“She trains very hard, corrects herself when I correct stroke; she works hard at what she does and when she races is incredibly strong mentally. I think that is her biggest feature.”
Currently at Stirling Primary School, Eland is the quickest swimmer over 50m butterfly in the country having clocked a blistering 34.48 which she set at the SA Level 1 Regional Age Group Champs in Malmesbury, Cape Town earlier this year.
She is ranked second in the country in 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke, third in the country in 50m and 100m freestyle, fourth in 200m Individual Medley (IM) and fifth in 200m backstroke according to this year’s SA swim rankings on www.swimsa.org.
These are some fantastic results and bodes well for her future as she looks to improve and better herself over the coming years.
At the Level 1 Champs Eland claimed a top haul of six gold medals and a silver in the seven events she competed in. Her golds came in the 50m and 100m distances of the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly divisions, while she claimed her silver in the 200m IM.
An incredible feat on one day at the champs she broke the Border 100m freestyle record and 50m butterfly record in the morning heats and then returned the evening to break her own records in both those events again.
The 100m Border freestyle record that Eland broke had been standing since 2012. The other five Border records she broke this year had all been standing for over 10 years.
Terri-Ann Brown's 200m IM record set in 2004 was broken, Candice Lennox’s 50m and 100m backstroke records, set in 2002 and 2003 respectively were broken, as well as Donne Bezuidenhout's 50m and 100m butterfly records that had stood since 1997 were all taken over by Eland.
With still a bit of swimming to be done over the rest of this year, Eland will be eyeing a few other records and will be aiming to continue improving and getting better with the possibility of one day representing her country further down the line. “I hope Catherine can break an SA record this year at one of the away winter galas or even Border champs, I think she is capable of doing it,” said Skinner.
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