Meder targets Commonwealth glory after strong World Cup campaign

South African swimmer Rebecca Meder is looking forward to next year’s Commonwealth Games after the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup campaign proved she is “becoming more and more competitive against the world’s best.”

The 23-year-old Olympian from KwaZulu-Natal emerged with four bronze medals from the three stops on the series that concluded with the final leg in Toronto, Canada, at the weekend, finishing 16th overall.

On Saturday, she produced a strong final 25m to claim third in the 100m breaststroke in Toronto in a time of 1:04.48. The race was won by overall series champion Kate Douglass of the US in 1:02.93.

Meder’s other results in Toronto included fourth in the 200m breaststroke (2:18.81), fifth in the 200m individual medley (2:05.83) and sixth in the 100m individual medley (58.81 seconds).

“I’m really happy to see that I’m becoming more and more competitive against the world’s best, and nice to see that I’m racing in events that are stacked with the swimmers that I normally race against,” she said of competing against the likes of Olympic champion Douglass and world champion sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh.

“Up next, the biggest focus is the Commonwealth Games next year, where many of the competitors I raced now will also be. So I’m looking forward to racing them again.”

“I obviously wanted to be faster in the last (World Cup) stop and see if I could break my African record again in the 200m individual medley, and try to chase that 200m breaststroke time and get that under the 2:18 mark.

“I’m just super stoked that I was consistent through all three stops, and it just shows that my training has been working — all the hard work that I’ve been putting in. To be consistently competitive at that level is definitely a strength I can take forward into a world champs and into a Commonwealth Games.

"So, all in all, a good racing and training block done and dusted, and I’m super happy with the results.”

Meder, who is based in New Zealand, broke her South African and African 200m individual medley record with a time of 2:05.56 when earning her third bronze medal of the first leg of the series in Carmel, Indiana. Her 200m breaststroke time of 2:18.14 was also just 0.12 of a second off the national and continental short-course record set by four-time Olympic medallist Tatjana Smith in 2020.

Her coach, Graham Hill, believes the experience of racing against top international swimmers will be invaluable.

“Hopefully, the race experience she has gained from the three stops will move her to another level when she races at major competitions like the Commonwealth Games and Olympics,” he said.

While the World Cup is a short-course series swum in a 25m pool, the swimming events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place in a 50m pool at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.