Le Clos Putting World On Notice With 1:46.8 200 Freestyle In Durban

2017 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Monday, April 3rd – Saturday, April 8th
• Kings Park Pool, Durban, South Africa
• LCM
• Event Schedule
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

The South African stars were on full display on day 3 of their National Aquatic Championships, as 2016 Olympians Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh each collected another World Championships qualifying mark on the night. First up was Le Clos, who blasted a 200m freestyle final time of 1:46.84 to sail past domestic rival Myles Brown to take the gold in Durban. He had notched a FINA A cut during last night’s semi-final with his 1:47.73, but the 24-year-old Olympic silver medalist in the event lowered his mark to check in as the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world in the event thus far this season. Splits for Le Clos were 24.28/26.62 (50.90)/27.91/28.03 (55.94)

Teammate Myles Brown clocked a solid time as well, finishing behind Le Clos in 1:47.55. That was just .04 off his semi-final outing from last night, but still well comfortably under the FINA A qualifying time of 1:47.73. Brown now ties New Zealand’s Matthew Stanley as the 7th fastest time in the world this season.

The pair doubled up on swims tonight, also tackling the 200m butterfly where they finished 1-2 in the semi-final. Both did what it took to notch places in the final, with Le Clos nabbing a time of 2:00.88 while Brown sits just behind in 2:02.19. Look for both men, especially Le Clos who won gold in this event at the 2012 Olympic Games, to fire off something special tomorrow night in the final.

Breaststroking ace Cameron van der Burgh was at it again tonight after his impressive 59.73 100m breaststroke win in last night’s final. Tonight in the semi of the 50m sprint breast, van der Burgh nailed a FINA A cut of 27.06 to take the top seed and edge close to his national record of 26.67 from 2009.

Tatjana Schoenmaker doubled up on swims tonight, racing in the women’s 50m breaststroke where she took the top seed in 31.68. Schoenmaker also took on the 100m breaststroke final, where she came in as the top seed with her time of 1:07.99 from last night. That mark sat just under half a second away from the FINA A cut, which sits at 1:07.58. However, the 19-year-old wasn’t able to replicate her sub-1:08 performance, instead stopping the clock at 1:08.36.

Schoenmaker will now need to depend on her 200m breaststroke event as her last chance to notch a spot on the South African World Championships roster. If accomplished, she would become the first South African woman to have qualified for an elite international meet in 3 years.

Additional Winners on Night 3:

• Mariella Venter took the women’s 100m backstroke in 1:01.53, dropping .20 of a second from yesterday’s semi-final outing.
• 14-year-old Rebecca Meder won the women’s 1500m freestyle in 16:49.77.
• The men’s 100m backstroke saw Jacque Van Wyk score the win in 56.42.
• Dune Coetzee, just 14 years of age, nailed the top seed in the women’s 200m freestyle semi-final, earning a mark of 2:03.69.