Durban — Pietermaritzburg swimmer Alani Ferreira made history by setting a new African record during the Paralympic Games on Saturday.
During her S13 400m freestyle heat, Ferreira finished with a time of 4:58.06 and booked her place into the final. In the final later that evening, she finished 8th, but took another two seconds off her time to set another African record of 4:55.95.
Ferreira said she was very happy with her performance and that she does the 400m because she loves it.
“This is the race that I say it's my race because I do this one because I love it, not because I am necessarily particularly very good at it. This is the one I do because I literally just love swimming and racing so I am very happy to have gotten that time,” Ferreira said.
Ferreira added that it’s rare for her to participate in two 400m races in the same day, but said that this was what she trains for and it really pushed her body past the limit.
Ferreira will now turn her attention to her main event – the SB12 100m breaststroke, where she has targeted a medal after claiming bronze at the World Championships in Manchester last year. The event is scheduled for September 5.
“Now I definitely know I am fit enough, now it's just a thing of getting that last-minute speed work done to make sure that I can go out hard enough and then obviously have the back-end coming back in the last 50 of the 100,” she said of that race.
On the same day, more African records were set by South African swimmers at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
The other record-breaker of the night was Christian Sadie. He booked his place in the final of the SM7 200m individual medley by winning his morning heat in 2:35.98. He then also went quicker in the evening final, finishing fifth in a new African record of 2:35.02
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