South Africa at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa at the
2025 World Aquatics Championships
South Africa at the; 2025 World Aquatics Championships
	Flag of South Africa
World Aquatics code	RSA
National federation	Swimming South Africa
Website	swimsa.org
in Singapore
Competitors	59 in 5 sports
Medals; Ranked 16th	Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze 1 Total 4
World Aquatics Championships appearances
	1973; 1975; 1978; 1982; 1986; 1991; 1994; 1998; 2001; 2003; 2005; 2007; 2009; 2011; 2013; 2015; 2017; 2019; 2022; 2023; 2024; ;

South Africa competed at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore from July 11 to August 3, 2025.

Medalists

Name	Sport	Event	Date
Pieter Coetze	Swimming	Men's 100 metre backstroke	29 July 2025
Pieter Coetze	Swimming	Men's 200 metre backstroke	1 August 2025
Pieter Coetze	Swimming	Men's 50 metre backstroke	3 August 2025
Kaylene Corbett	Swimming	Women's 200 metre breaststroke	1 August 2025

Competitors

The following is the list of competitors in the Championships.^[1]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Artistic swimming	0	10	10
Diving	0	3	3
Open water swimming	4*	3*	7*
Swimming	4*	9*	13*
Water polo	14	14	28
Total	21*	38*	59*

Matthew Caldwell and Catherine Van Rensburg competed in both open water swimming and pool swimming.

Artistic swimming

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Xera Vegter Maharajh	Solo technical routine	175.5766	33	Did not advance
Xera Vegter Maharajh	Solo free routine	134.0263	25	Did not advance
Aurelia Pretorius Rebecca Schenk	Duet technical routine	150.4983	39	Did not advance

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Tori Buitendag Chloe Dundas-Starr Leah Howell Aneesah Lindoor Aurelia Pretorius Tayla-Jade van Huyssteen Casey Williams Sarah Williams	Team technical routine	139.1717	25	Did not advance
	Team free routine	101.5804	20	Did not advance

Diving

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Semifinals		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Grace Brammer	1 m springboard	197.70	39	—		Did not advance
Bailey Heydra	1 m springboard	214.60	32	—		Did not advance
Bailey Heydra	3 m springboard	242.40	29	Did not advance
Zalika Methula	3 m springboard	153.00	50	Did not advance
Bailey Heydra Zalika Methula	3 m synchro springboard	214.17	14	—		Did not advance

Open water swimming

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semi-final		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Ruan Breytenbach	Men's 10 km	—				2:05:07.6	24
Connor Buck	Men's 3 km knockout sprints	17:54.1	20	Did not advance
	Men's 5 km	—				1:01:26.3	38
	Men's 10 km	—				2:09:37.1	36
Matthew Caldwell	Men's 3 km knockout sprints	17:45.4	14	Did not advance
Matthew Caldwell	Men's 5 km	—				1:01:23.8	35

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semi-final		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Amica de Jager	Women's 3 km knockout sprints	19:26.4	21	Did not advance
Callan Lotter	Women's 3 km knockout sprints	18:36.4	8 Q	12:21.6	16	Did not advance
	Women's 5 km	—				1:04:21.6	16
	Women's 10 km	—				2:14:01.3	16
Catherine Van Rensburg	Women's 5 km	—				1:06:50.4	35
Catherine Van Rensburg	Women's 10 km	—				2:19:40.2	25

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Matthew Caldwell Amica de Jager Kellen Jones Catherine Van Rensburg	Team relay	1:15:25.2	12

Swimming

South Africa entered 13 swimmers.^[2]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semi-final		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Matthew Caldwell	400 m freestyle	4:01.45	39	—		Did not advance
Pieter Coetze	50 m backstroke	24.36	2 Q	24.32 AF	3 Q	24.17
	100 m backstroke	52.80	7 Q	52.29 AF	3 Q	51.85 AF
	200 m backstroke	1:57.11	16 Q	1:54.22 AF	1 Q	1:53.36 AF
Matthew Sates	200 m freestyle	1:48.45	32	Did not advance
	200 m individual medley	2:01.80	28	Did not advance
	400 m individual medley	Did not start		—		Did not advance
Chris Smith	50 m breaststroke	26.82	6 Q	26.77	5 Q	26.75	6
Chris Smith	100 m breaststroke	1:00.85	25	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semi-final		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Aimee Canny	200 m freestyle	1:57.53	8 Q	1:57.72	12	Did not advance
Aimee Canny	200 m individual medley	2:12.70	19	Did not advance
Kaylene Corbett	50 m breaststroke	31.43	27	Did not advance
Kaylene Corbett	200 m breaststroke	2:25.10	7 Q	2:23.81	7 Q	2:23.52
Caitlin de Lange	50 m freestyle	24.95	18	Did not advance
Erin Gallagher	100 m freestyle	55.01	27	Did not advance
	50 m butterfly	25.77	12 Q	25.39 NR	3 Q	25.66	8
	100 m butterfly	57.48	9 Q	57.68	13	Did not advance
Rebecca Meder	100 m breaststroke	1:07.50	27	Did not advance
	200 m breaststroke	2:28.40	24	Did not advance
	200 m individual medley	2:11.68	13 Q	2:11.05	10	Did not advance
Olivia Nel	50 m backstroke	28.23	23	Did not advance
Hannah Robertson	400 m freestyle	4:22.69	27	—		Did not advance
Catherine van Rensburg	800 m freestyle	8:50.60	25	—		Did not advance
Catherine van Rensburg	1500 m freestyle	16:59.73	26	—		Did not advance
Olivia Nel Caitlin de Lange Georgia Nel Hannah Robertson	4 × 100 m freestyle relay	3:45.33	12	—		Did not advance
Aimee Canny Georgia Nel Hannah Robertson Catherine van Rensburg	4 × 200 m freestyle relay	8:13.06	10			Did not advance
Olivia Nel Rebecca Meder Erin Gallagher Aimee Canny	4 × 100 m medley relay	3:59.47 AF	9			Did not advance

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Matthew Sates Matthew Caldwell Olivia Nel Aimee Canny	4 × 100 m freestyle relay	3:31.65	19	Did not advance
Pieter Coetze Kaylene Corbett Erin Gallagher Matthew Caldwell	4 × 100 m medley relay	3:52.03	18	Did not advance

Water polo

Summary

Team	Event	Group stage				Playoff	Quarterfinal	Semi-final	Final / BM
Team	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
South Africa	Men's tournament	Serbia L 3–27	Romania L 5–24	Italy L 4–28	4	—	—	Australia L 4–2	Singapore L 13–14	16
South Africa	Women's tournament	Spain L 4–23	Great Britain L 3–12	France L 6–13	4	—	—	Croatia L 6–16	Singapore W 8–4	15

Men's tournament

Team roster

The following is the South African roster.^[3]

Head coach: Grant MacKenzie

1 Luka Rajak GK
2 Nathan Ward FP
3 Manqoba Bungane FP
4 Dean Sneddon FP
5 Calvin Kuperus FP
6 Carl Germishuys FP
7 Dylan Watt FP
8 Ryan Sneddon FP
9 Matthew Bowers FP
10 Kelly Geldenhuys FP
11 Matthew Neser FP
12 Tristan Grimmett FP
13 Matthew Smith GK
14 Brett Sneddon FP

Group play

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	2	1	0	0	58	22	+36	8	Quarterfinals
2	Serbia	3	2	0	1	0	59	25	+34	7	Playoffs
3	Romania	3	1	0	0	2	38	41	−3	3	Playoffs
4	South Africa	3	0	0	0	3	12	79	−67	0	13–16th place semifinals

Source: Omegatiming
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

12 July 2025 09:00	Report	Serbia	27–3	South Africa	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Yasser Mehalhel (EGY), Stanko Ivanovski (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 8–0, 6–3, 4–0, 9–0
		Mandić 6	Goals	three players 1

14 July 2025 10:35	Report	South Africa	5–24	Romania	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Evan Andrews (CAN), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 0–8, 1–3, 3–7, 1–6
		D. Sneddon 2	Goals	Georgescu, Iudean 4

16 July 2025 13:45	Report	Italy	28–4	South Africa	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Evan Andrews (CAN)
		Score by quarters: 6–1, 9–0, 8–1, 5–2
		Cassia, Ferrero 4	Goals	four players 1

13th–16th place semifinals

18 July 2025 09:00	Report	South Africa	4–27	Australia	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Yasser Mehalhel (EGY), Chisato Kurosaki (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 1–10, 2–9, 0–3
		four players 1	Goals	three players 4

15th place game

20 July 2025 09:00	Report	South Africa	13–14	Singapore	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Maxim Gerasimov (GBR), Mihai Balanescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 2–7, 4–3, 3–3, 4–1
		Sneddon 3	Goals	Goh 3

Women's tournament

Team roster

The following is the South African roster.^[4]

Head coach: Dean Whyte

1 Lucy Davis GK
2 Tumi Macdonell FP
3 Tia Caswell FP
4 Boati Motau FP
5 Skye Murray FP
6 Mia Loizides FP
7 Shakira January FP
8 Esihle Zondo FP
9 Hannah Weppelman FP
10 Jo Williams FP
11 Chloe Meecham FP
12 Hannah Banks FP
13 Kyla Moolman GK
14 Georgia Eccles FP

Group play

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	62	17	+45	9	Quarterfinals
2	Great Britain	3	2	1	31	28	+3	6	Playoffs
3	France	3	1	2	28	41	−13	3	Playoffs
4	South Africa	3	0	3	13	48	−35	0	13–16th place semifinals

Source: Omegatiming
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

11 July 2025 09:00	Report	South Africa	4–23	Spain	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Wu Zhekang (SGP), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 1–9, 0–5, 2–4, 1–5
		four players 1	Goals	González 5

13 July 2025 12:10	Report	Great Britain	12–3	South Africa	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Zhang Liang (CHN), Wu Zhekang (SGP)
		Score by quarters: 5–0, 2–2, 4–1, 1–0
		Turner 4	Goals	three players 1

15 July 2025 12:10	Report	South Africa	6–13	France	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Megan Perry (NZL), Mihai Balanescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 2–3, 3–3, 0–3
		Banks 2	Goals	Hardy, Heurtaux 3

13–16th place semifinals

17 July 2025 10:35	Report	Croatia	16–6	South Africa	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Alessia Ferrari (ITA), Maxim Gerasimov (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 7–2, 2–3, 2–0, 5–1
		Janković 4	Goals	Meecham 2

15th place game

19 July 2025 09:00	Report	Singapore	4–8	South Africa	OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Referees: Aurély Blanchard (FRA), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 0–3, 3–2, 1–2, 0–1
		four players 1	Goals	Williams 2

References

^ "Competition athletes". World Aquatics. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
^ "Entries Book" (PDF). Omega Timing. 24 July 2025. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
^ "Men's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 12 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
^ "Women's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 11 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.

[1] "Competition athletes". World Aquatics. Retrieved 30 July 2025.

[2] "Entries Book" (PDF). Omega Timing. 24 July 2025. Retrieved 30 July 2025.

[3] "Men's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 12 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.

[4] "Women's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 11 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.

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Nations at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore
Africa	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Somalia Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Americas	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Bolivia Brazil Canada Cayman Islands Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United States Uruguay Venezuela Virgin Islands
Asia	Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Chinese Taipei Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Macau Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
Europe	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
Oceania	American Samoa Australia Cook Islands Fiji Guam Marshall Islands Micronesia New Zealand Northern Mariana Islands Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Vanuatu
Others	Athlete Refugee Team Neutral Athletes