Aimee Canny hit the wall first off the turn in Glasgow, and for 75 metres of the women’s 100m breaststroke final, it looked like South Africa had another champion. Angharad Evans had other ideas.
Racing out of lane five at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Sunday night, Aimee Canny went out hard, splitting 30.67 at the 50m mark to lead the field into the second length. It was the kind of front-half swim that puts a home crowd on edge.
Evans, Scotland’s rising star, found the closing speed Aimee Canny couldn’t match. The Scot ran her down over the final 25 metres to take gold, touching just 0.12 seconds ahead. Canny stopped the clock at 1:06.19 for silver, agonisingly close to gold on her own turf away from home.
“Twelve hundredths of a second is nothing and everything at the same time. Canny led this race with everything she had, and Glasgow still gave her a medal to be proud of!” – 🎙️Jay
The result also closes out an era. South Africa had owned this event for the past two Commonwealth cycles, with Tatjana Smith winning gold at Gold Coast 2018 and Lara van Niekerk taking the title in Birmingham four years later. Evans’s win ends that run, but Canny made sure the fight for it went down to the final strokes.
It’s Canny’s second medal of these Games. She was part of the South African quartet that clocked an African record for bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Friday, alongside Rebecca Meder, Erin Gallagher and Olivia Nel.
South Africa’s depth in this event was on full display in the final. Kaylene Corbett finished sixth and Meder seventh, meaning three South Africans made the eight-woman field for the 100m breaststroke showpiece.
At 22 and fresh off a standout season with the University of Virginia Cavaliers, the Knysna swimmer arrived in Glasgow as one of the country’s most versatile swimmers, entered across the 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. One down, more to come.
📸 Images via Swimming SA
