Minke Janse van Rensburg
Minke wins seven gold medals and sets two open world records at the 12th Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships in Albufeira, Portugal
George swimmer Minke Janse van Rensburg has come home from the 12th Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships in Albufeira, Portugal, with seven gold medals, two open world records and the title of Top Female Down Syndrome Swimmer of the Championships.
The 21-year-old set her open world records in the 100m freestyle and the 100m individual medley, and added two senior-category world records in the 200m and 400m freestyle. She received the Top Female award at the closing gala evening, after a week in which few swimmers could stay with her.
Her seven gold medals came in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 100m individual medley. Several were won by wide margins. She took the 50m freestyle in 33.89 seconds, 3.26 seconds clear of the field, and the 100m freestyle in a world-record 1:16.34, 5.65 seconds ahead. Her 2:50.96 in the 200m freestyle left the next swimmer 9.56 seconds behind. She won the 50m butterfly in 36.97, by 2.18 seconds, and the 100m butterfly in 1:32.19, by 5.87 seconds.
The race that people will talk about was the 100m individual medley final. With 25 metres to go, Minke was 0.56 seconds behind Great Britain’s Amalia Freeland. She swam the freestyle leg in 19.93 seconds to Freeland’s 21.36, passed her in the final strokes and touched first in 1:29.35, 0.87 seconds ahead. The win brought another gold medal and a new open world record.
It was not her only late charge. In the 400m freestyle on the opening day, she was 3.39 seconds behind Freeland at the 300m mark and still trailing with one length left. She swam the last 25 metres in 20.20 seconds and won in 6:03.24, a senior-category world record.
“We are so proud of her,” said her father, Hennie Janse van Rensburg. “Minke puts in the work every single day in the pool in George, and she never gives up on a race. Watching her come from behind in that medley and then stand on the podium for South Africa is something our family will never forget. We want to thank Franna and Josua, her teammates and everyone who helped get her to Portugal.”
About the Championships
The World Championships are run by the Down Syndrome International Swimming Organisation (DSISO), which was formed in 2002 to give swimmers with Down syndrome a world-class competition of their own. The first edition was held that year in Reading, England, and the event has been staged every two years since, moving between continents. DSISO calls it its “Olympics”.
This year’s edition ran from 30 October to 7 November 2026 and included artistic swimming alongside the pool programme. Swimmers earn their places on merit by meeting strict minimum qualifying times.
Albufeira knows the event well. Portugal first hosted the World Championships in 2008, the Algarve town staged the 10th edition in 2022, and it held the 8th Open European Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in 2025.
The Championships matter all the more because swimmers with Down syndrome have no class of their own at the Paralympic Games. DSISO and several national federations, Portugal’s among them, continue to push for that to change.
About Minke
Minke first swam for South Africa at the age of 13, at the 9th World Championships in Truro, Canada, in 2018, where she set a junior world record in the 50m short-course freestyle. She went on to win gold at the 2023 European Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Italy and medals at the 2024 Trisome Games in Turkey. At the 2025 Virtus World Swimming Championships in Bangkok, she broke seven world records and won six gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
She secured her place in the Portugal team at the SASA-II national championships in Mbombela earlier this year, where she was named both the top women’s swimmer and the best overall swimmer of the event. In July she set a new world record in the 200m individual medley at the Western Cape Short Course Championships.
Minke holds nine individual open world records and a world record as a member of a South African women’s relay team, along with several junior world records from earlier in her career.
She trains at Garden Route Swim School in George under coach Josua Vorster and the school’s owner, Franna Vorster, whose commitment and years of work have shaped her into a world-class swimmer.
The South African team
The wider South African team swam with determination and sportsmanship throughout the week. Amelie du Plessis, Zora Wegerif, Savanna Haselau and Minke won silver in the women’s 4 × 100m medley relay in 7:05.79, behind Mexico. The same four swimmers finished fourth in the 4 × 100m freestyle, 4 × 50m medley and 4 × 50m freestyle relays.
Congratulations, Minke. South Africa is proud of you.
