By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam
16th Africa Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships
Thursday, May 1st – Sunday, May 4th Cairo, Egypt Cairo Stadium Aquatic Complex LCM (50 meters)The 2025 Africa Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Cairo unfolded from Thursday, May 1 through Sunday, May 4, showcasing four days of high-caliber racing.
The story of the meet was South Africa’s overwhelming dominance, as they collected 25 golds and 52 total medals. Egypt trailed in 2nd with 10 golds and 43 overall, as the two nations distanced themselves from the rest of the countries.
18-year-old Jessica Thompson, a Virginia commit listed as a member of the class of 2026, emerged as the meet’s dominant performer, leading South Africa with five individual gold medals. Her wins came in the 100 backstroke (1:02.51), 100 freestyle (57.49), 50 backstroke (28.67 prelims, 28.83 final), 50 butterfly (26.61), and 50 free (25.48). None of these performances were lifetime bests, as her fastest times remain 1:01.68 in the 100 back, 28.29 in the 50 back, 26.41 in the 50 fly, 25.13 in the 50 free, and 56.32 in the 100 free.
Thompson was instrumental in relay victories as well, helping South Africa to gold in the women’s 4×100 free, mixed 4×100 free, and women’s 4×100 medley.
Fellow South African Keira Van Heerden was equally impressive. She joined Thompson on the women’s medley relay, contributed to the winning mixed 4×100 medley relay, and swept the individual breaststroke events.
The 18-year-old opened the meet with a clocking of 32.85 in the 50— the only swimmer under 33 seconds—then claimed the 100 title in 1:12.24, outpacing Egypt’s Ganat Karem Hafez by exactly a second. Van Heerden has been quicker in both distances with career marks of 32.69 and 1:10.92.
Van Heerden closed out her breaststroke sweep with a 2:37.09 win in the 200, though her career best stands at 2:31.82. She also picked up a 4th win in the 200 IM, logging 2:22.53 to win by just under a second. She’s been as quick as 2:18.83 in that race.
Distance specialist Scarlett Le Roux added three more individual golds to South Africa’s haul. She got things going with a silver in the 1500 free, producing a time of 17:41.35 behind Morocco’s Malak Meqdar, who won in a personal-best 17:29.43. Le Roux rebounded with a trio of titles—9:09.35 in the 800m, 4:27.79 in the 400m, and 2:05.35 in the 200m freestyle—all best times.
Le Roux also helped South Africa nab gold in the women’s 4×200 free relay. She notched a split of 2:09.06 on the second leg, which was well shy of her marker from the individual swim.
Other Standout Performances:
17-year-old Adrian Van Wyk of South Africa clocked 3:54.86 in the men’s 400 free, beating his previous lifetime benchmark of 3:56.79. He later placed 6th in the 100 back in 59.91, after logging 58.27 in prelims, with his PB resting at 56.63. Namibia’s Oliver Durand took gold in the medleys, winning the 200 IM in 2:04.51—the fastest time at the meet in over 10 years—and the 400 IM in 4:26.00, obliterating his previous bests of 4:32.04 and 2:06.78. Egypt’s 16-year-old Zain Hesham Hamdy won the men’s 100 fly in 54.66, improving his PB by 0.04 and edging the field by 0.08. South Africa’s Tai Pearson (54.74) and Nigeria’s Adama Abduljabar (54.79) also went under 55 seconds. Zimbabwe’s Anje Van As, 18, took the women’s 200 fly in 2:17.95, with South Africa’s Jaime Mote, 17, the only other under 2:20 at 2:18.82. Egypt’s Mohamed Ayman Abd El Samie, 18, won the men’s 200 free in 1:51.41, just under his previous best of 1:51.42. Egypt’s Hamza Ashraf Ibrahim, 18, was the only man under 29 in the 50 breast, winning in 28.96 after popping a new lifetime best of 28.52 in prelims. Egypt’s Abd El Rahman Amr Farag dominated men’s backstroke, winning the 100 in 55.94 and the 50 in 26.14, both career bests. Nigeria’s Adama Abduljabar grabbed two golds, winning the 50 fly in 23.89 and the 50 free in 22.54.Final Medal Table:
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