A Commonwealth Games swimming star and two IAAF Under-20 World Champions were among the 33 University of Pretoria (UP) athletes who represented South Africa at the World Student Games in Napoli, Italy.

Swimmers Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett both qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games for the second time. Schoenmaker won the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:22.92, just 0.89s shy of the personal best she set at last year's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. So far this year, only six swimmers have managed to set faster times. This was the second time she won both the 100m and 200m breaststroke at an international gala, having done the same at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Corbett came fourth with a time of 2:24.93, well within the Olympic 200m breaststroke qualification standard of 2:25.52. Since the beginning of the year, she has improved her personal best time by nearly three seconds.

Meanwhile, in track and field events, Zenéy van der Walt finished second in the women’s 400m hurdles final. While it was certainly not the result she had hoped for, Van der Walt had her work cut out for her with Italy’s Ayomide Folorunso, who took the lead from the start and never relented, winning the race in 54.75s. Van der Walt clocked in at 55.73s

Sokwakhana Zazini reached a new milestone by running a time of 48.73s in the 400m men’s hurdles to take silver. His performance was a massive improvement on his previous best of 49.29s. He also set a new African and South African junior record. Equally impressive is that so far his time is the ninth fastest this season in senior international athletics.

Closer to home, it was celebrations all around as the UP women’s hockey team won the University Sports South Africa tournament in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape for the third time, beating North-West University 3-2 in the final. From day one it was clear the team was on a mission when they beat the University of Cape Town 2-0. Up until the final, UP did not concede once, scoring eight goals. UP’s men's hockey team finished third in the tournament, beating the University of Johannesburg in the play-offs.