Africa: Van der Burgh Wins 6th-Straight 50 Breast Medal

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Full Competition Schedule
• Meet Info
• Psych Sheets
• Omega Results
• Pick ’em Contest
• Event-by-Event Previews

As predictable as death, taxes and Cameron van der Burgh winning a medal in the 50 breast at World Championships.

Van der Burgh won a medal for the 7th-straight World Champs meet in the 50 breast today, going 26.60 for bronze. That makes a 6-year run that matches and even tops some of the biggest-name swimmers in history. For example, Michael Phelps‘ longest streak in a single event is 5, a run from 2003 to 2011 in the 100 fly. Ryan Lochte, too, has a run of 5 in the 200 back (2005 to 2013); so does Aaron Peirsol (2001 to 2009).

On the women’s side, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini set her own record today, winning her 7th-straight medal in the 200 free, a gold over Katie Ledecky.

Van der Burgh now has 2 world titles, a silver and 3 bronzes in the 50 breast over the past decade:

• 2007: bronze
• 2009: gold
• 2011: bronze
• 2013: gold
• 2015: silver
• 2017: bronze

Meanwhile his teammate Chad le Clos won a 200 fly title with one of the gutsiest swims imaginable. Always a furious front-half swimmer, le Clos went out a full second faster than the field, then hung on as his back two splits rose dramatically. He topped Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh by four tenths of a second. That made him Africa’s first medalist of the 2017 World Championships, getting in one event before van der Burgh’s.

Here’s a quick look at le Clos’ splitting compared to the rest of the 200 fly final:

By 50

Le Clos had the best 1st and 2nd 50s by a wide margin. But his third split was the 2nd-slowest of the field, and his final split tied for 3rd-fastest.

By 100

Le Clos did manage to have the 4th-fastest back half of the field, but was more than a second slower than Cseh, who was running him down into the wall. His first 100, though, crushed Cseh by 1.4 seconds. The only swimmer who tried to go out with le Clos was Tamas Kenderesi, who fell right into the le Clos trap with a big opening 100, but not enough gas to come home. Kenderesi faded to the field’s worst closing split and took 4th.

AFRICAN RECAP

NATIONAL RECORDS, DAY 4

• Angolan record – Catarina Sousa – W 50 back – 32.24
• Swazi record- Robyn Young – W 50 back – 35.46
• Comorian record – M. Nazlati – W 50 back – 48.32
• Egyptian record – Mohamed Samy – M 100 free – 49.42
• Mauritian record – Bradley Vincent – M 100 free – 50.38
• Namibian record – Xander Skinner – M 100 free – 51.00
• Burundian record – Billy-Scott Irakoze – M 100 free – 56.93
• Ugandan record – E. Tibatemwa – M 100 free – 58.79
• Togolese – K. Amegashi – M 100 free – 1:11.13
• Kenyan record – Mixed 4×100 medley relay – 4:08.84
• Angolan record – Mixed 4×100 medley relay – 4:15.68

DAY 4 MEDALS/FINALISTS – AFRICA

• Cameron van der Burgh finished 3rd in the 50 breast
• Chad le Clos finished 1st in the 200 fly
• Oussama Sahnoune (Algeria) qualified for semifinals of the 100 free in 14th, then took 9th in semis

Le Clos and Van Der Burgh become the first two medalists for the continent this year, along with the first two finalists. Algeria’s Sahnoune nearly became the third finalist with a 9th-place finish in the 100 free. He’s now the fifth semifinalist from Africa this year, joining Egypt’s Marwan el-Kamash and South Africa’s Myles Brown.