Zane Waddell
At the 2012 Junior Nationals in Port Elizabeth, Zane set a South African Age Group record for the 50m backstroke of 28,75 - signaling his future success in that event. In 2019 he won a world championship gold medal in the same event.
The impressive top 4 lines of Zane's bio at Alabama:
- 2019 FINA World Champion, 50-meter Backstroke
- 2019 World University Games Champion, 50-meter Backstroke
- 2019 NCAA Champion, 200 Medley Relay
- 2020 All-American - 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay
Zane with coach Simon Gray in Bloemfontein.
I was born on 18 March 1998 in Margate, Natal. I started swimming when I went to boarding school at Grey College in Bloemfontein. I swam under Simon Gray all the way through High School and we built a really good relationship. That was when Simon and my parents told me: “Listen, if you want to further your swimming career you’ve got to get out of South Africa.” I decided on America and we got talking with United States schools. Partly why I made the move to the US was because I had the opportunity to gain a scholarship and I ended up choosing the University of Alabama. It was agreed that they would pay for all my studies and I would also have free access to medical care, world-class training facilities and programmes. I have been really well supported and I have to say I was pretty fortunate to get that opportunity because in South Africa we don’t have the same facilities and the investment as they do in the US. I have been at the University of Alabama for three years now and am going into my fourth. I’m getting two bachelor’s degrees in four years. My first is in finance and my second in management information systems. Heading over to the States was probably the best move I could have made for my swimming career because my times improved drastically. My times just kept dropping and the next thing I knew I was on the South African national swim team. Whether or not I decide to stay in the US for the long haul will ultimately be based on whatever is best for my career.
Bloemfontein swimmers to represent SA in Bulawayo
November 12, 2014
The City of Roses will see two of its youngsters continue its fine swimming tradition when they represent South Africa at the Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 Games in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe next month.
Zane Waddell of Grey College, who swims for coach Simon Gray at the Bloemfontein Seals Swimming Club, has been making quite a splash in the pool this year and has been selected to represent South Africa for the very first time.
The Grade 11 pupil from Grey College is already on the radar of Graham Hill, coach of South African swimming great, Chad le Clos, for the 2016 Rio Games.
While the back-stroke swimmer is excited to represent South Africa for the first time, he told Courant that he will be aiming for a personal best time.
"It’s my first time representing a national team, so I’m excited.
"I will be aiming for a personal best, so hopefully there will be a medal or two in there as well."
The 17-year-old was unable to say exactly what event he will be competing in as they will only be told on the day what they will be taking part in.
Eben Vorster of Sentraal High School, who swims for Otters, will be joining Waddell for the trip up north.
This will be the longer distance swimmer’s second time representing South Africa after competing in the national colours in Zambia last year. Vorster said his previous trip was fun and he is looking forward to next month’s trip.
"This is my second time representing South Africa. I went to Zambia last year for the youth games, and it was quite nice," he told Courant.
"I just want to see how close I can get to my PBs (personal bests) that I swam at level three and at senior nationals.
Hopefully I can go a little bit faster, because training has been quite hard. We would like to do our best," said the swimming star who specialises in individual medleys and butterfly.
Waddell and Vorster will be in Bulawayo for the duration of the games which will take place between 5 and 15 December 2014.
3 Maart 2014 - Tydens die onlangse Interhoër swemgala het Grey Kollege weereens gewys dat hul talente verder strek as slegs die rugbyveld. Die Grey College-seuns het met talle medaljes (18 x 4de plekke; 19 x brons; 21 x silwer; 26 x goud) weggestap en het verskeie bekers gewen, onder andere beide die Junior Cullen Thomas en Senior Victor Ludorm Zane Waddell.
5th Commonwealth Youth Games - Waddell makes a splash in Samoa
9 September 2015
Bloemfontein’s Zane Waddell has been impressing in the swimming pool at the fifth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games being held in in Apia, Samoa.
Yesterday the 17-year-old swimmer won the gold in the 50m butterfly in a time of 24.52 seconds.
This morning he added to that gold by helping team South Africa secure the gold in the 200m medley relay.
He also shaved nearly three seconds off his national 50m backstroke record by winning the gold to set the new national junior mark at 25.94 seconds.
And to cap off a nearly perfect day in the pool he earned bronze on the 800m freestyle relay with the team clinching third in 8:20.84.
Waddell's coach, Simon Gray told Courant that his races are on top of each other so it’s tough to compete.
"He's doing fantastic, I'm very proud of him.
"He has won the most individual gold medals at the moment, so all that hard work has been worth it.
"The one thing is that his races are right on top of each other, so he hasn't had much time to recover for his second races, so his second races aren't coming into the expectations that we expected, but it's mainly because of not recovering but otherwise, in general, he is doing fantastic".
Gray added that Waddell will be targeting a sub 23 second time in the 50m freestyle.
“We are going to try and break that 23 second barrier in the 50m freestyle, that’s our next goal.”
2017
Zane accepted a scholarship to swim at the University of Alabama, alma mater of Jonty Skinner, where he was on the SEC Academic Honor Role for four years, as well as winning numerous swimming awards.
