Olympic Finalist Pieter Coetze Clocks World-Leading 52.71 100 Back

2025 SOUTH AFRICAN SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 9th – Sunday, April 13th
• Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Results

South Africa’s Senior National Championships kicked off today from Gqeberha and Olympic finalist Pieter Coetze took on his signature 100m backstroke event to begin the competition.

After reaping the top seed with a morning swim of 53.03, 20-year-old Coetze lowered it down to 52.71 to top the podium well ahead of his competitors.

Runner-up status went to Ruard van Renen of the University of Georgia who touched in 54.77 while Jonah Pool-Jones earned bronze in 56.39.

Altough splits are not available at the time of publishing, Coetze’s 52.71 came within .13 of the African Record of 52.58 he established en route to placing 5th in the event at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Coetze’s time easily cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 53.94 needed for this summer’s World Championships in Singapore.

He now ranks #1 in the world, tying British rising star Oliver Morgan, who hit the same mark in February of this year.

Coetze’s continued success in this event appears to support his decision to retract his initial commitment to Cal and stay in his home country of South Africa for training and studying at the University of Pretoria.

21-year-old Matt Sates is entered in a monster lineup of ten individual events, including tonight’s 200m freestyle.

Sates produced a time of 1:47.49 to get to the wall first, splitting 25.34/26.82 (52.16)/27.38/27.95 in the process.

He and the rest of the field were chasing the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut of 1:46.70 needed for Singapore, so we’ll have to see how the rest of his events shake out at this competition.

17-year-old Kris Mihaylov held his own with a final time of 1:48.93 for silver, although the promising teen was slightly quicker in the prelims with a top-seeded 1:48.81. Righardt Muller placed 3rd tonight in 1:51.19.

Additional Notes

• Dune Coetzee topped the women’s 200m free field in 1:59.09, leading a trio of sub-2:00 athletes. Rebecca Meder touched in 1:59.38 and Aimee Canny, the African record holder in this event, placed 3rd in 1:59.48.
• Meder dove in for a 2nd event, the women’s 100m breast, where she upgraded to gold in a time of 1:07.50.
• 19-year-old Chris Smith clocked a time of 1:01.57 to beat Michael Houlie to the wall in the men’s 100m breast. Houlie settled for silver in 1:01.79 and Matthew Randle was right behind in 1:01.82.
• The women’s 100m back saw Jessica Thompson, just 17 years of age, get it done for gold in 1:01.68 this evening.