South Africa teenage swimming sensation Lara van Niekerk has won her country’s first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in the UK city of Birmingham.

The 19-year-old also set a new Commonwealth Games record with a time of 29.73 seconds in the women’s 50m breaststroke final.

“After breaking the record in the heats, I was like, let me try break it every single time,” she said.

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“So that was the goal just trying to shave off a little bit more each look each time and get faster.”

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Van Niekerk added that racing in front of a crowd had been exhilarating and had spurred her on.

“It’s amazing. I haven’t been in a crowd this big in my life – at the World Championships it wasn’t as big. So it was amazing. And it’s so loud out there.”

BBC

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