Lara van Niekerk is a South African breaststroke specialist and record-breaker. She holds the African, Commonwealth, and South African records in the long course 50-metre breaststroke. Her breakout year was 2022, where she won double Gold Medals at the Commonwealth Games (50m and 100m breaststroke) and a Bronze Medal at the World Aquatics Championships (50m breaststroke). She is sponsored by Funkita and trained by Eugene da Ponte.