Pieter Coetze Wins His 3rd Medal Of The Meet With African Record 24.17 50 Backstroke

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
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• Entry Book
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

Men’s 50 Backstroke — Final

• World Record: 23.55 — Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia (2023)
• World Junior Record: 24.00 — Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia (2018)
• Championship Record: 24.04 — Liam Tancock, Great Britain (2009)
• 2023 World Champion: Hunter Armstrong, United States — 24.05

Final:

1. Kliment Kolesnikov (NAB) – 23.68 *Championship Record
2. Pieter Coetze (South Africa)/Pavel Samusenko (NAB) – 24.17
3. (TIE)
4. Ksawery Masiuk (Poland) – 24.51
5. Quintin McCarty (United States) – 24.58
6. Apostolos Christou (Greece) – 24.59
7. Isaac Cooper (Australia) – 24.61
8. Hubert Kos (Hungary) – 24.62

Pieter Coetze followed up his African Record from the semi-finals of the 50 back with another best time in the final, swimming 24.17 to slice 0.15 seconds off his day-old mark and tie for the silver medal with Pavel Samusenko, behind winner Kliment Kolesnikov.

Coetze has shaved off just under two-tenths of a second from his best at these championships, as he came in with a time of 24.36 which was just off the supersuited African and South African records of 24.34, set by Johannes Zandberg.

Zanberg also placed on the podium with that swim, finishing 3rd at the 2009 World Championships behind a World Record from Liam Tancock and an Asian Record from Junya Koga. The semi-finals of that event were notable, with all of the top eight in semi-finals setting National Records, three setting continental records and Tancock setting a World Record.

The podium here was faster than in Rome however, with Coetze tying for second in a time of 24.17, joining the NAB pair of Kliment Kolesnikov and Pavel Samusenko on the podium.

Coetze now owns six of the fastest ten performances by an African swimmer, with four of those performances having come in the last two weeks.

Top 10 African Performances, Men’s 50m Backstroke

1. Pieter Coetze, 08/03/2025 (RSA): 24.17
2. Pieter Coetze, 08/02/2025 (RSA): 24.32
3. Johannes Zandberg, 08/02/2009 (RSA): 24.34
4. Pieter Coetze, 08/02/2025 & 04/13/2023 (RSA): 24.36
5. –
6. Zane Waddell, 07/28/2019 (RSA): 24.43
7. Pieter Coetze, 02/17/2024 (RSA) & Zane Waddell, 07/06/2019 (RSA): 24.46
8. –
9. Zane Waddell, 07/07/2019 (RSA): 24.48
10. Pieter Coetze, 07/21/2019 (RSA) – 24.49

Coetze competed in the World University Games in Berlin just over a week prior to the start of the World Championships in Singapore, raising some questions aver what his form would look like here with the travel, time difference and length of his taper.

He has emphatically answered any questions, as both he and Olivia Nel (who broke the women’s 100 back record this morning) have backed up their performances from Berlin. Coetze has been faster in both of the events he swam there, going 51.85 in the 100 back to be even faster than the 51.99 he swam to win gold two weeks ago as well as being faster here in the 50 by three-tenths of a second.

The TUKS swimmer has now won three medals at these Championships, surpassing Chad le Clos and Tatjana Smith to become South Africa’s most-decorated athlete at a single World Championships. He took gold in an incredible race in the 100 back, touching 0.05 seconds ahead of World Record holder Thomas Ceccon and 0.07 seconds ahead of Yohann Ndoye-Brouard as the entire podium broke 52 seconds, before narrowly taking silver in another enthralling race with Hubert Kos in the 200.

He has cemented himself as the premier three-distance backstroker in the world here, beating out Kos in both the 50 and 100 and taking a gold (100) and two silver (50 and 200) medals here in Singapore.

Coetze’s African Records

• 50 backstroke: 24.17 (#10 all-time)
• 100 backstroke: 51.85 (#3* all-time)
• 200 backstroke: 1:53.36 (#7 all-time)

*Miront Lifitnsev’s 51.78 was swum on the leadoff leg of the mixed medley relay, so is not included in any WA rankings lists.

Coetze now ranks 3rd in the world  so far this season, where in a relatively rare occurrence the top three swimmers this season were the ones to end up on the podium tonight.