Kristin Bellingan in red-hot form ahead of Lifesaving SA National Club Championships

Sport24, in partnership with DHL and Lifesaving SA, previews the athletes likely to make a splash in the surf or sizzle on the sand at the 2022 DHL Lifesaving National Club Championships in Ggeberha from 20-26 March.

Kristin Bellingan of Marine Surf Lifesaving Club is coming in on red-hot form to compete in the event.

Bellinghan was an immense presence for Team South Africa in their overall win at the African Championship in Egypt recently, contributing 58 out of a possible 60 points from her three events. She has also been included in LSA’s high performance elite surf squad for 2022.

The highlight of the African champs was her excellent victory in the females’ run-swim-run, where she exhibited her strength across the sport’s various mediums to beat South Africa’s rising star Tatum Botha. Bellingan also won the board race, where she again pipped Botha into first place. In the surf race however, Botha took gold as Bellingan came away with silver.

Despite her own first place finishes, Bellingan displays a healthy respect for Botha’s young talent, answering, when questioned on her competition, “Tatum Botha is also a very talented young up and coming competitor and I have no doubt that she would pose a huge threat in the surf swim and board events.”

Twenty-four-year-old Bellingan, given her recent achievements, carries all kinds of momentum into 2022 Club Champs, where she’ll be looking to compete on sand and in the surf and pool, where she specialises in the Surf Swim, board race, 200m obstacle and the 50m mannequin carry

The multi-talented Bellinghan, among the South African senior women’s elite, has been a fierce competitor since a young age, first representing South Africa way back in 2016 at the World Life Saving