Stephanus Coetzer provided one of the highlights of the first two days of the South African Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg winning the 100 backstroke and qualifying for the Short Course World Championships in a time of 53.43.
Coetzer, who has dual citizenship between South Africa and the United States and trains at North Carolina State was extremely excited about the win, “I’m extremely proud of my achievement,” Coetzer told SuperSport.
“I live in the United States, but South Africa is home and it will be nice to be able to represent them.”
Cameron van der Burgh, who won gold in the 50 breaststroke at the Commonwealth games, took the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:06.42.
Chad le Clos and Myles Brown provided one of the most exciting races of the competition so far, as the two battled it out for the 200 freestyle title. Heading into the final 50 meters le Clos trailed Brown by almost a second and a half, in the final 50 meters Brown split a 26.99 while le Clos came home in a time of 25.74. Ultimately Brown edged out le Clos finishing in a time of 1:43.95 while le Clos touched in a time of 1:44.07.
Both men qualified for the world championships along with Leith Shankland who finished third in a time of 1:44.97.
le Clos also took the men’s 50 butterfly in a time of 23.11.
Jessica Ashley Cooper who took the event in a time of 59.32 followed by Karin Prinsloo who recorded a time of 1:00.04. Both women finished under the world championships qualifying time.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Sebastien Rousseau won the men’s 400 IM taking the event in a time of 4:06.78. Rousseau was followed by Michael Meyer who finished in a time of 4:07.31. Both men qualified for the world championships.
Rene D Warnes took the title in both the 400 IM (4:41.32) and the 200 butterfly (2:10.78) qualifying for the world championships in both events.
Both Tatjana Schoenmaker and Emily Visagie qualified for Doha in the women’s 200 breastroke. Schoenmaker won the event in a time of 2:25.55 followed by Visagie who touched in a time of 2:27.14.
Full results can be found here.
