2023 South African Nationals Day 2: Coetze Fires Off 24.36 50 Back Lifetime Best

2023 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 12th – Sunday, April 16th
• Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• Selection Criteria
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Psych Sheet
• Results – Meet Mobile: SA National Aquatic SNR-Champ-2023-PE
• Livestream

18-year-old Pieter Coetze busted out the fastest time of his career en route to winning gold in the men’s 50m backstroke on day two of the South African National Championships.

The Cal commit fired off a super quick time of 24.36 to top the domestic podium by nearly two seconds tonight. That time easily overtook Coetze’s previous personal best outing of 24.58 notched in the semi-finals of the event at the 2022 World Junior Championships.

There in Lima, Peru, Coetze wound up placing 2nd in a time of 24.61 behind Polish champion Ksawery Masiuk.

Coetze’s new 24.36 fell just .02 shy of the longstanding South African national record Gerhard Zandberg put on the books at the 2009 World Championships.

However, Coetze now moves into the #1 spot in the season’s world rankings in this 50m back, in the process easily clearing the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 25.16 needed to qualify for the World Championships.

Tonight’s performance follows up Coetze’s 100m back stunner from day one. He crushed a new personal best of 52.78 to establish a new national and African continental record on his way to becoming the 2nd fastest performer in the world this season.

The women’s 200m IM saw Rebecca Meder get it done for gold in a time of 2:11.39. That gave the 20-year-old a healthy advantage over last night’s 200m free winner Aimee Canny. Canny settled for silver in this race in 2:13.35.

For Meder, the reigning African Games champion earned World Championships qualification, dipping under the QT of 2:12.98.

Meder’s result also established a new national record. Look for a subsequent post on her record-setting performance.

Former Georgia Bulldog Matt Sates collected his 2nd piece of hardware at these championships, topping the men’s 200m IM podium. The 19-year-old punched a time of 1:59.95 as the only swimmer to delve under the 2:00 barrier.

As with the 200m free from last night, however, Sates fell short of the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut in this event. He needed a minimum result of 1:59.53, so the teen was less than half a second away from the standard.

Also falling just shy of Fukuoka qualification was Olivia Nel in the women’s 50m back. Following up on her 100m back victory from day one, Nel notched a time of 28.39 to take the gold this evening.