2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – INCHEON
- Thursday, October 24th – Saturday, October 26th
- Prelims at 9:30am local (8:30pm previous night ET)/Finals at 7:30m local (6:30am ET)
- Munhak Park Tae-Hwan Swimming Pool, Incheon, South Korea
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Event Schedule
- Entered Athletes
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Results
After lowering his 100 backstroke African record in Shanghai at the first stop on the Swimming World Cup, Pieter Coetze has kept rolling with another African record in Incheon, this time in the 50 backstroke. Coetze won the men’s 50 backstroke final with a 22.80, slicing .04 seconds off the mark he swam for fifth at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
With the competition wrapped on the second day in Incheon, the Swimming World Cup is about halfway over. Coetze’s backstroke—his specialty—has looked strong through the first half of this series. He’s now swum lifetime bests in all three backstroke events, including breaking 1:50 in the 200 backstroke for the first time in Shanghai.
His 1:49.12 was a 2.30-second drop and moved him closer to George Du Rand’s super-suited 1:47.08 African record—the one short-course continental men’s backstroke record Coetze does not own.
In Shanghai, Coetze won the 200 backstroke and 100 backstroke, then swam 22.95 in the 50 for second behind Isaac Cooper by two-tenths. On the first day in Incheon, Coetze was off his 200 backstroke best but still won the race with relative ease, setting himself to try to claim a Triple Crown next week at the final stop in Singapore.
Here in Incheon, it seems that he’s got his sprinting legs, as he claimed victory in the 50 backstroke with a .15 second drop from his swim in Shanghai. His victory means he’s won at least one race in each backstroke distance at this World Cup. It also means that we’ll be back on African record watch for the race tomorrow, looking to see if he can best his 49.35 mark. He won the race in Shanghai, which means that a win tomorrow would position him for a second Triple Crown chase in Singapore.
