SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
Fiona Pratt taught her granddaughter to swim – and Zyleika Pratt-Smith has taken that knowledge, added to it with years of training, and claimed a sensational nine gold medals at the Anchor AIMS Games.
Pratt-Smith also won a silver and, with three Mount Maunganui Intermediate schoolmates, claimed the trophy for Best Team Overall at the 14th annual intermediate-age competition.
Olympian Melissa Ingram was poolside but it was Fiona Pratt that Pratt-Smith credited with kickstarting her swimming passion.
“She’s a swim instructor,” Pratt-Smith said of her grandmother. “And she was a good swimmer when she was younger as well.
Pratt-Smith’s nana and mother Annick Pratt witnessed her astounding dominance in the finals, as did her nine-year-old sister Zaniqua who hopes to also compete at AIMS in the future.
Pratt-Smith attributes her success to her involvement with Mt Maunganui Swimming Club and synchronised swimming.
But she is not done with challenging herself. Pratt-Smith would love to go to the Olympics one day but right now a more immediate goal looms.
“First, I have to break a New Zealand record.”
* Story by Horiana Henderson, republished from Anchor AIMS Games News.
* Photo Credit: Anchor AIMS Games.
See more AIMS Games News here http://news.nzaimsgames.co.nz/index.php/category/latest-news/
