2026 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 14th – Saturday, April 18th
- Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
- LCM (50m)s
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Results: Meet Mobile – SA National Aquatic SNR-Champ 2026-PE
Day four of the 2026 South African National Swimming Championships brought about more qualifications for this year’s Commonwealth Games, with Pieter Coetze adding another event and Calvyn Justus inserting himself onto the list for Glasgow.
21-year-old Coetze already claimed the men’s 50m and 100m backstroke title here and he was additionally impressive in the men’s 50m freestyle event.
This morning in the heats, the Pretoria student stopped the clock at a speedy 22.04 to claim the 2nd seed.
The only man ahead of him was Calvyn Justus, the 30-year-old Olympian who has been missing in action for quite some time.
Justus produced a top-seeded swim of 21.97, with 17-year-old Armand Landmann hitting 22.31 for the 3rd seed.
Come tonight’s final, Coetzee upgraded to the gold, posting 22.29 as the top man.
Landman was right behind in 22.36, with Justus rounding out the podium in 22.36. Of note, Olympic champion Chad le Clos wrangled up the 5th slot in 22.74.
As for Coetze and Justus, their times cleared the Commonwealth Games qualification standard in this event, with Justus’ comeback swim marking a significant milestone after a devastating back injury that left him unable to walk for a year.
“I went through a pretty bad back injury, took five years away from the sport. And when I healed up, I just wanted to do something with my body again,” explained Justus.
“I got back in the water pretty quickly, fell in love again and thought let me give it one more go.
“I herniated three discs, which pinched my sciatic nerve… I lost like 20 kg. It was one of the lowest points in my life but when I healed from that I had a lot of motivation to get stronger and to use my body as much as I could,” added Justus, who works as a fashion designer in Los Angeles and said the fact that the next Olympic Games will be hosted in his home city in 2028 was also a major motivating factor in his return.
Coetzé, meanwhile, was thrilled to have competed against a swimmer he used to watch on YouTube as a kid.
“When I was starting to swim and I wasn’t on any teams or anything special like that, I would watch Calvyn’s videos on YouTube. He was a YouTube vlogger and he had some great videos on the trips they did and training tips and representing South Africa and stuff. So that’s the first thing I told him when I saw him,” said Coetze.
Additional Notes
- Lara van Niekerk claimed the gold in the women’s 50m breast, logging 30.50 as one of two sub-31-second efforts of the final. Morgan Cope joined her under the barrier in 30.95 with Simone Moll also landing on the podium in 31.07, good enough for bronze. Said van Niekerk pst-race, “After the 100, I was a bit upset and didn’t really enjoy that one as much as I would have wanted to, just having that expectation on me ever since I swam the 1:05 and then all the injuries and sickness that I just really struggled to get there again. But I just spoke to my coach and he just reminded me that the 50 has always been my thing and to go enjoy that one and do my best.”
- Chris Smith and Michael Houlie each notched a Commonwealth Games-worthy time in the men’s 50m breast. The former touched in 26.68 to the latter’s 26.96 as the only two competitors to clear the 27-second threshold.
- Finally, Caitlin de Lange earned her Commonwealth Games roster spot in the women’s 50m free, hitting a morning result of 24.77. She dropped that down to 24.74 this evening to add her name to the nation’s line-up for Glasgow. “I was super happy this morning with that time… it kind of took the pressure off,” she said afterwards. “I wanted to go a little bit faster [tonight] but other than that, I’m happy.”
Commonwealth Games Qualifiers Through Day Four:
- Aimee Canny: 200m freestyle, 100m, 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley
- Pieter Coetzé: 50 & 100m backstroke, 50m & 100m freestyle
- Kaylene Corbett: 200m breaststroke
- Cailtin de Lange: 50m freestyle
- Erin Gallagher: 100m butterfly
- Michael Houlie: 50m breaststroke
- Calvyn Justus: 50m freestyle
- Rebecca Meder: 200m individual medley
- Chris Smith: 50m breaststroke
- Jessica Thompson: 50m backstroke
- Lara van Niekerk: 50m breaststroke
- Ruard van Renen: 50, 100m backstroke
I was just wondering the same thing what has happened to Matt Sates. Can anyone throw any light on the subject?
what ever happened to Matt Sates?
Quick question, did le Clos qualify for Glasgow in the 100m fly?
Anyone know if Cam Van den Bergh swam the 50m? I thought he was a targeting the commies
He was listed as an entrant in the meet but I don’t see where he actually swam.
I also watched him on youtube when I first started competitively swimming, and now I have been following him through the ASP vlogs and podcasts. Super pumped he has found this groove and love for the sport again, and breaks 22!