2026 Commonwealth Games
- July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming)
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Pieter Coetze set yet another Commonwealth Games record in the final of the 200 back tonight, clocking 1:54.22 to hack over a second off James Goddard‘s previous standard of 1:55.58 from the 2010 Games in Delhi.
He shot out to an early lead, flipping in 25.73 at the 50 and 54.47 at the halfway point, 0.43 seconds under World Record pace. He couldn’t quite hold on down the second 100, splitting 29.79/29.96 to close in 59.75.
The gold medal was never in doubt, with Coetze opening up a body length lead early on and keeping the English pair of Ollie Morgan and Luke Greenbank at bay.
This swim ties for Coetze’s second-fastest ever, alongside the 1:54.22 he clocked in the semi-finals at last year’s World Championships. That was an African record at the time, before he lowered it to 1:53.36 in the final as he won silver behind Hubert Kos.
He had similar splits in his season best swim of 1:55.57 from the China Open in March, going out hard and suffering on the back half of the race. He matched his opening 100 split from his African record almost exactly tonight, and the difference between his swim and the previous Commonwealth Games record game entirely on the first 100.
Split Comparison
| Split | African Record – 2025 World Championships, 1:53.36 | Old Commonwealth Games Record (James Goddard) – 2010 Commonwealth Games, 1:55.58 | New Commonwealth Games Record – 2026 Commonwealth Games, 1:54.22 | Coetze’s Previous Season Best – 2026 China Open, 1:55.57 |
| 50 | 25.88 | 26.85 | 25.73 | 26.07 |
| 100 | 54.48 (28.60) | 55.86 (29.01) | 54.47 (28.74) | 55.10 (29.03) |
| 150 | 1:23.74 (29.26) | 1:25.78 (29.92) | 1:24.26 (29.79) | 1:25.02 (29.92) |
| 200 | 1:53.36 (26.62) | 1:55.58 (29.80) | 1:54.22 (29.96) | 1:55.57 (30.55) |
He remains ranked third in the world so far this season, but narrows the gap to the top two of Apostolos Siskos and Hubert Kos. That trio are now separated by just 0.10 seconds.
2025-2026 LCM Men 200 BACK
SISKOS
1:54.12
| 2 | Hubert Kos | HUN | 1:54.21 | 12/06 |
| 3 | Pieter Coetze | RSA | 1:55.26 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Lee Juho | KOR | 1:55.34 | 12/16 |
| 5 | Roman MITYUKOV | SUI | 1:55.36 | 04/11 |
Ollie Morgan won his second silver medal of the Games behind Coetze in 1:56.44, with Luke Greenbank winning his first individual Commonwealth medal with a time of 1:56.58 for bronze.
Coetze has set four Commonwealth Games records in five events so far this week, doing so in every round of the 50 back and then in tonight’s final. The 100 back standard, a 53.12 set by Chris Walker-Hebborn in 2014, looks in serious danger with Coetze having a lifetime best of 51.85.
I hope he goes 51 in the 100 back next