Aimee Canny

In April 2022, at the 2022 South Africa National Swimming Championships, Canny swam a 2022 World Aquatics Championships qualifying time of 1:58.34 in the 200 metre freestyle in the final to win the gold medal.^[3] She was named to the South Africa team in swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in June.^[4]

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England starting in July, Canny placed ninth in the 200 metre freestyle with a time of 2:00.10.^[5] The following day, she helped achieve a fourth-place finish in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay in 3:40.31, swimming the lead-off leg of the relay in 54.84 seconds.^[6] Day three, she led-off the 4×200 metre freestyle relay with a 1:58.72 to contribute to a final time of 8:02.28 and a fourth-place finish.^[7] She followed up her fourth-place finish with a fourth-ranked time of 55.27 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100 metre freestyle the following morning, qualifying for the semifinals.^[8] Lowering her time to 54.78 in the semifinals, she qualified for the final ranking sixth.^[9][10] With a time of 54.88 seconds in the final on day five, she placed sixth.^[11][12] Later in the session, she anchored the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay in the final, helping place fourth in a time of 3:44.38, which was a new African record and South African record.^[13] She helped set new African and South African records in the final of the 4×100 metre medley relay as well, contributing to a fourth-place finish in a time of 3:59.63 by splitting a 53.80 for the freestyle portion of the relay.^[14]

First collegiate season

At the first meet of her collegiate career, a dual meet against the Virginia Tech Hokies in January 2023, Canny won the 200 yard freestyle for her team, the Virginia Cavaliers, contributing to an overall victory for the Cavaliers.^[15] The following month, she achieved another win in the 200 yard freestyle, this time at the 2023 Cavalier Invitational, with a pool record and personal best time of 1:42.78 and helped achieve a 1-2 finish with her teammate Gretchen Walsh.^[16][17]

Starting competition on day one of the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, 14 February, Canny split the fastest time of all relay swimmers in the women's 4×200 yard freestyle relay with a 1:42.79 for the second leg to contribute to a conference title-winning time of 6:55.15.^[18][19] The following day, she won the b-final of the 200 yard individual medley with a personal best time of 1:55.90.^[20] For her third event, the 200 yard freestyle on day three, she placed second in the final with a personal best time of 1:42.62.^[20][21] The next evening, she helped set new US Open and NCAA records in the 4×100 yard medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg to contribute to the winning time of 3:21.80.^[20][22][23] In her final event of the Championships, she finished in a time of 48.16 seconds in the final of the 100 yard freestyle to place seventh, which followed a personal best time of 48.05 seconds in the morning preliminaries.^[20][24]

The following month, on day one of the 2023 NCAA Division I Championships, Canny led-off the 4×200 yard freestyle relay with a personal best time of 1:42.34 to contribute to an NCAA title-winning and pool record time of 6:49.82.^[25][26] Day two, she placed nineteenth in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 1:56.10.^[25] In the 200 yard freestyle on day three, she won the bronze medal with a time of 1:42.50.^[25] She won her second NCAA title later in the day in the 4×100 yard medley relay, where she swam the freestyle leg of the relay in 47.27 seconds to help finish in a new pool record time of 3:22.39.^[25][27] On the final day, she started off with a personal best time of 47.98 seconds in the morning preliminaries of the 100 yard freestyle before placing fourteenth overall, sixth in the evening b-final (consolation final), with a time of 48.10 seconds.^[25][28]

2023 South Africa Championships

Day one of the 2023 South Africa National Championships, conducted in long course metres in April in Gqeberha, Canny achieved a personal best time and a qualifying time of 1:58.20 for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in the 200 metre freestyle in the morning preliminaries.^[29] She won the gold medal in the final with a personal best time of 1:57.82.^[30] On the second morning, she achieved a personal best time of 2:16.97 in the preliminaries of the 200 metre individual medley.^[31] She lowered her personal best time in the evening final to a 2:13.35, winning the silver medal less than two seconds behind gold medalist Rebecca Meder.^[32] She won a second national title in an individual event on the third evening, finishing first in the final of the 100 metre freestyle with a personal best time of 54.65 seconds.^[33] On the fourth day, she won the silver medal in the 50 metre freestyle with a time of 25.41 seconds.^[34]

Long course metres (50 m pool)

Legend: sf – semifinal

Short course yards (25 yd pool)

Legend: h – preliminary heat; b – b-final; r – relay 1st leg

• Aimee Canny at World Aquatics
• Aimee Canny at Olympedia
• Aimee Canny at Olympics.com