Schoenmaker Clocks 2:22.44 200 Breast On Day 3 Of South African Nationals

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
• Psych Sheet
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Results – Meet Mobile: SA National Aquatic SNR-Champ-2023-PE

After already reaping 200m fly gold here at the 2023 South African National Championships, 31-year-old Chad Le Clos topped the men’s 100m freestyle podium to pick up his 2nd gold.

Le Clos clocked a time of 48.97 to top the podium, earning the sole sub-49 second outing of the field. Next in line was the 50m and 100m back champion Pieter Coetze, who touched in 49.19 while Matt Sates bagged bronze in 49.20.

The men were chasing a World Aquatics ‘A’ cut of 48.51 to automatically qualify for this summer’s World Championships.

Le Clos said post-race, “I thought it was a bit faster to be honest but it’s ok, it’s good. I’m happy with the win.

“If I want to be competitive, I have to swim 47s so let’s see… but a lot of improvements still need to be made from my side. I’m nowhere near where I need to be long course but I believe by world champs I’ll be very close to a podium in whatever races we swim, and then obviously next year we try and shock the world again.”

Also just missing the Fukuoka mark was Aimee Canny in the women’s 100m free.

Already qualified in the 200m free from her victory on night 1, Canny touched in 54.65 to slice .06 off of her previous personal best and remain South Africa’s 3rd fastest performer of all-time.

Behind Canny was Rebecca Meder who already earned a new 200m IM national record at this competition. 20-year-old Meder hit 54.88 for her first outing ever under the 55-second barrier while current South African record holder Erin Gallagher rounded out the top 3 in 55.09.

Canny said of her race tonight, “I obviously would have liked to have gone a bit faster but where this race is in the gala – I’ve already had three tough days – I was happy with that time.

“I went out quick. I was happy with the speed I went out in and I think I’ve just got to work on doing a bit better at the back end but it was a good race.”

World Record holder and Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker was also in the water tonight. She topped the 2breast podium in a result of 2:22.44, qualifying for this summer’s World Championships in the process.

Schoenmaker beat out the next-closest competitor of Kaylene Corbett by nearly 3 seconds with Corbett touching in 2:25.40. Emily Visagie was a distant 3rd in 2:33.26. Corbett also qualified for Fukuoka with her time here.

Schoenmaker is now the #2 performer in the world on the season, sitting only behind Dutch ace Tes Schouten who scorched a national record of 2:22.21 at the Eindhoven Qualification Meet earlier this month.

On her performance, 25-year-old Schoenmaker stated, “I was obviously hoping for a much faster time.

“I think with the crowd going so crazy you assume you’re on a really good time, not that I’m not incredibly grateful for a 2:22 though. I think the excitement just made me think it was a lot faster but we’ll get there. It’s step-by-step. I think in 2021 before the Olympics I also swam a 2:22 in the heats so we’ll get there.”

Additional Winners

• Matthew Randle clocked a time of 2:16.41 to win the men’s 200m breaststroke, doubling up on his 100m breast victory earlier in the meet.
• After taking the men’s 200m free and 200m IM here, Matt Sates earned gold in the 400m IM in a time of 4:22.26. He owns a lifetime best of 4:11.58 in this event.