Swimming South Africa has revealed its 19-strong roster for pool swimming for the 2022 FINA Aquatic World Championships slated for Budapest, Hungary in late June.
You can find all of the known World Championships rosters in SwimSwam’s official index here.
Olympic veteran Chad Le Clos leads the lineup, with the 30-year-old ace having qualified in the men’s 100m and 200m fly, as well as nabbing a FINA ‘B’ cut in the 50m fly.
“I think it’s a big honor because no one has ever done seven from South Africa that I can remember in recent years so I’m just super-happy to be going to another World Championships of course,” Le Clos said.
“I’m really excited – we have a very young team. This is a golden time for South African swimming.
“It’s phenomenal to see and I really hope that this year they can get in some finals, get on a couple of podiums and win some medals.
“Obviously the Commonwealth Games is also down the line so we’re also very excited about that – two majors this year.”
Former University of Georgia Bulldog Matt Sates is another two-event ‘A’ qualifier, set to contest the 200m free and 200m IM, while also having earned ‘B’ cuts in the 100m and 400m free.
Pieter Coetze, who competed for South Africa in Tokyo last year as just a 17-year-old, will look to do some damage in Budapest across the trio of backstroke distances.
World record holder and Tokyo Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker has been named to the roster, but has reportedly pulled out of the competition and opted to put her focus on the Commonwealth Games. The same goes for Kaylene Corbett, who was fifth in the women’s 200 breast Olympic final that Schoenmaker won last summer.
Fellow breaststroker Lara Van Niekerk was also named to the team, and she’s excited for what will be her World Championship debut.
“Of course I am so happy to make the team to compete in Budapest, especially since this will be my first World Championships and I have always dreamt about racing the best in the world,” the 18-year-old said.
“The past few months have given me a lot of confidence going into races, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. At Worlds, I just want to focus on executing my race plan as best I can, and enjoying the whole experience.”
Aimee Canny, who is committed to swim at the University of Virginia next season, is also among the women racers, having logged a FINA ‘A’ cut in the 200m free.
Of note, as has been the case in the past, South Africa’s swimmers are at least partly responsible for travel and expenses, a factor that may impact who ultimately makes the trip to Budapest.
Per their official announcement, South Africa said: “Any team member not traveling from South Africa with the team must book and pay for their flights.
“Team Members traveling from South Africa with the team, their contribution will be R15500.00 (~$955 USD).
“Team Members will be responsible for the cost and application of their VISA. Team Members will be responsible for any COVID testing required.”
Most of the swimmers below are stationed in South Africa as their training base, with Sates recently having returned since officially saying goodbye to his NCAA career after winning a national title in the 500y freestyle.
At the 2019 World Championships, South Africa finished 11th overall in the swimming medal table, having reaped 4 medals in total. The singular gold same courtesy of now-retired Zane Waddell in the men’s 50m backstroke, while Le Clos took bronze in both the 100m and 200m butterfly events and Schoenmaker took 200m breast silver.
It looks like SA has the makings for a decent men’s 400 Medley Relay; will they be competing in that event?
I thoght Schoenmaker was skipping Worlds?
Seems like whichever sport it is, South Africas governing body is incompetent
It is rather pathetic that the swimmers who have been selected to represent the country must partially fund their own trip. In the mean time government executives use and abuse so much money, not to mention all the money lost and stolen to corruption.
I know Olympic sports are far down the totem pool of what’s important in the Grand scheme of things, but this does not reflect well on the nations bureaucracy. A G20 member is supposedly unable to pay the meager sums to finance such basic needs for its athletes, what a joke. I wonder where all of that money that can’t be put aside for this actually is.
Ryk and Roland did 7. SwimSA continuing to prove how pathetic they are. They keep the same people in Shaun Adriaanse is still there. If this was any company they would’ve been fired.
not a good photo
A yes, a South African holding a South African flag. How terrible