In an interview with BDlive Graham Hill the coach of Chad le Clos revealed that the South African star will be swimming the 50, 100 and 200 butterfly, the 200 freestyle and possibly the 200 IM at the upcoming World Championships in Kazan.
In Doha at the World Short Course Championships le Clos took gold in the three butterfly events and the 200 freestyle. Hill believes that le Clos’ recent success in the short course can translate to success in Kazan, “We’ve learnt from our mistakes,” Hill told BDlive.
“His starts are a lot quicker off the blocks now. Everyone thinks Chad is a short-course swimmer because his turns and underwater work are so good, but they forget that he is the Olympic 200m butterfly champion and was nearly the 100m Olympic champion too.”
“I’m looking forward to the championships.”
It is hard to believe that anyone would overlook le Clos in the 100 and 200 butterfly, but his main challenges will come in the 50 butterfly as well as the 200 freestyle and 200 IM.
At the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona le Clos won the 100 and 200 butterfly, but finished 23rd in the 50. He posted a lifetime best of 23.29 last year which put him 11th in the world rankings.
His best time of 1:47.20 in the long course 200 freestyle, which he swam in 2012, would not even have ranked him in the top 20 in the world in 2014.
He did take the bronze at the Commonwealth Games in the 200 IM in a time of 1:58.85. He posted a season’s best of 1:57.94 at the South African National Championships, which ranked 10th in the world.
His 2014 short course best of 1:51.56 placed him third in the world rankings.
It will interesting to see if le Clos can take the success he had in the short course pool and translate those results into success in the 50 butterfly, 200 freestyle and possibly the 200 IM in Kazan.
Hill also told BDlive that he was happy with the progress of Cameron van der Burgh who suffered a shoulder injury last summer.
It’s great to see them committing early to a decent schedule. The overlap with Hagino’s program will provide all of the excitement. His 200IM will be very interesting to watch, especially if his long term groin injury has healed. The 200 Free will be a lot tougher, but Le Clos is such a racer/competitor, I can see him getting a medal, to the amazement of most.