2022 GRAND PRIX MEET #2 – DURBAN
- Friday, February 18th – Sunday, February 20th
- Kings Park Aquatic Centre, Durban, South Africa
- LCM (50m)
- Results, Meet Mobile – 2022 Grand Prix 2 Invitational Meet Durban
Multi-Olympic medalist Chad Le Clos made his post-hospital debut at the 2022 Grand Prix Meer #2 in Durban this week. As we reported earlier this month, Le Clos revealed on Instagram that he missed two weeks of training and spent three nights in hospital due to bronchitis.
Now back in the water, Le Clos fired off two victories to get back into the groove here at this South African Grand Prix in Duban.
Le Clos posted a winning time of 49.41 in the 100m free followed by a mark of 24.38 in the 50m fly, grabbing gold in each. Although he dropped the 200m fly final due to his training disruption, 29-year-old Le Clos did put up a mark of 2:03.37 in the prelims.
On his recovery, Le Clos said after his prelims swims, “I was very happy with tonight. It was a very good swim I guess under the circumstances. It’s been a bit of a tough time, being in hospital two weeks ago.
“I’m still struggling with a bit of sinus but 49.7 [for the 100m freestyle prelim] was pretty decent. It’s definitely not what I expected so we’ll see how we go tomorrow. The 200 fly I’ve scratched because obviously, I haven’t trained as much as I would have liked to. But all in all, I’m pretty happy… Onwards and upwards.”
After his 50m fly final, Le Clos said, “I’m really happy with that. I didn’t expect to swim so fast. I’m over the moon with the time. It’s one of the fastest times I’ve swum out of shape, so to speak, so I’m very happy.”
Making some noise on the women’s side was Lara van Niekerk in the 100m breaststroke. The 18-year-old raced her way to a top-seeded prelim effort of 1:06.52 before ultimately topping the podium with a final outing of 1:06.74.
The Pretoria swimmer’s heats swim of 1:06.52 represents a new lifetime best, including splits of 30.85/35.67.
In December Van Niekerk broke Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker’s national and continental 50m breaststroke record, becoming the first South African woman to dip under 30 seconds.
