Lara van Niekerk has experienced the best and the worst of swimming in the past four years.
From golden girl to the depths of anxiety, where fear caused her hands to shake before each race, the breaststroke queen is preparing another assault on the Commonwealth Games podium.
Van Niekerk returns to the national championships in Gqeberha this week to compete in the 50m and 100m races in which she rocketed to the top of the world as a fresh-faced teenager in 2022.
