SOUTH Africa’s double Olympic champion Penny Heyns has withdrawn from the world short-course swimming championships following the death of Canadian breaststroker Tara Sloan, Heyns’s family said on Tuesday. Heyns, who has broken 11 world breaststroke marks in the last year, has remained in Calgary, where she is based, to offer support to Sloan’s family. The championships start in Athens on Thursday. Sloan, Heyns’s teammate at Calgary university, died after being in a coma following a car accident. Sloan’s parents have asked Heyns to take part in the funeral service.