Midmar winners shine at SA swimming championships in Gqeberha
20 April 2026 – The winners of this year’s aQuellé Midmar Mile, Matthew Caldwell and Callan Lötter, left the recent SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha with an impressive collection of medals between them.
Caldwell secured a hat-trick of titles, dominating the distance freestyle events. He claimed gold in the 1500m freestyle in a commanding 15 minutes 46.91 seconds, finishing almost 20 seconds clear of the rest of the field. The Johannesburg swimmer also won the 800m freestyle in 8:03.69 and the 400m freestyle in 3:53.02, underlining his status as one of the country’s leading distance swimmers.
He also picked up a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle, finishing behind Kris Mihaylov (1:48.24) and Guy Brooks (1:49.81) in 1:49.86.
Despite his clean sweep in the longer events, Caldwell felt there was still more to come from his performances.
“I wanted a little bit more out of the race. I think yesterday splitting a 3:55 in the 800 was pretty easy. So now going a 53 is not exactly what I was expecting,” he said after the 400m freestyle. “I’m not 100 per cent happy, but I can see where I need to train now.”
Caldwell also highlighted the challenge of judging pace in distance races.
“It’s really hard. Unless you’ve got a long neck and you can turn around and look at the board and they show the times,” he joked. “But otherwise, it's very hard to know. It’s just about training, and you know from training so much of the same thing.”
Caldwell believes his success, along with that of fellow aQuellé Midmar Mile champion Lötter, reflects the strength of open water swimmers in the pool.
“Midmar is a tough race as is, and now bringing it into the pool racing, we still have the talent. So I think if you're good at Midmar, it's a short race, you’ll be good in the pool swimming.”
Lötter, meanwhile, delivered a series of strong performances in the women’s distance events. The 20-year-old claimed gold in the 800m freestyle in 8:41.13, leading home Stephanie Houtman in second and 2025 Midmar Mile champion Catherine van Rensburg in third.
The same trio returned to the podium in the 1500m freestyle, where 2022 Midmar champion Houtman (who was second at Midmar this year) took the win in 16:33.77. Lötter secured silver in 16:36.99, and Van Rensburg claimed bronze in 16:56.10.
Lötter, who dominated the women’s events at this year’s SA Open Water Championships, also secured a silver medal in the 400m freestyle, touching in 4:13.21 behind winner Duné Coetzee and finished fifth in the 200m freestyle.
Both Lötter and Caldwell were first-time winners at the aQuellé Midmar Mile this year. Next year’s race will take place from 13-14 February 2027, with seeding swims kicking off at the start of November 2026.
