Rebecca Meder has wrapped up her World Aquatics Swimming World Cup campaign on a high, securing her fourth bronze medal of the series at the final stop in Toronto, Canada.
The 23-year-old KwaZulu-Natal native showed remarkable consistency and competitive spirit across all three legs of the short-course series (25m pool), finishing 16th overall in the women’s standings a major improvement after contesting only one stop last season.
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🥉 Bronze secured in thrilling final
Meder’s final podium finish came in the 100m breaststroke on Saturday. In a nail-biting finish, she produced a powerful final 25 metres to claim third place with a time of 1 minute 04.48 seconds. This put her just a single hundredth of a second ahead of Japan’s Satomi Suzuki (4th place).
The race was dominated by overall series champion Kate Douglass of the USA (1:02.93), with Ireland’s Mona McSharry taking silver (1:03.84).
Meder’s consistent form in Toronto also saw her secure three other top-six finishes in competitive fields:
- 4th place in the 200m breaststroke in 2:18.81.
- 5th place in the 200m individual medley in 2:05.83.
- 6th place in the 100m individual medley in 58.81 seconds.
A milestone of consistency and competitiveness
Reflecting on her series-long performance, Meder expressed satisfaction with her progress against the world’s elite swimmers.
“I’m really happy to see that I’m becoming more and more competitive against the world’s best,” she stated, noting the value of racing against top talent like Olympic champion Douglass and world champion sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh.
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Contesting all three back-to-back stops of the series was a new benchmark for the South African swimmer.
“Just to be able to do back-to-back racing like that at this level is a first for me. Three legs, you definitely feel it by the third leg, mentally, emotionally, and physically, but it’s just made me so hungry to do it again, and to go and compete against these girls more and more,” she explained.
Focus shifts to Commonwealth Games
With the World Cup campaign complete, Meder is now adjusting her training to focus on the 50m pool as she targets podium finishes at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She noted that the World Cup experience serves as invaluable preparation for the major long-course event.
“Up next, the biggest focus is Commonwealth Games next year, of which lots of my competitors, competitors that I was racing now, will be at. So I’m looking forward to racing them again,” Meder said.
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While she narrowly missed her personal goals of setting a new African record in the 200m Individual Medley and breaking the 2:18 mark in the 200m Breaststroke in Toronto, her overall performance proves her readiness for the next competitive block.
“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. And to be consistently competitive at that level, is definitely a strength that I can take forward into a world champs and into a Commonwealth Games,” she concluded.
