Zyleika Pratt-Smith wins 9 gold medals at Anchor AIMS Games.

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 14^th 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.

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