Pieter Coetze Lowers Own African Record With 49.35 100 Backstroke 

2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP-SHANGHAI

• Friday, October 18th – Sunday, October 20th
• Shanghai, China
• Prelims at 9:30 am local (9:30 pm ET previous night)/Finals at 6:30 pm local (6:30 am ET)
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Event Schedule
• Entries Book
• Day 1 Prelims/Day 1 Finals
• Day 2 Prelims/Day 2 Finals
• Live Results

On the final night of the Shanghai World Cup, the 20-year-old Pieter Coetze won the men’s 100 backstroke in 49.35, breaking his African record. The former African record of 49.60 stood for the better part of two years, as Coetze set that standard to finish fourth at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.

Coetze led the race from start to finish, keeping himself ahead of Thomas Ceccon, the Olympic champion. He flipped at the halfway mark in 23.92, the only man in the field out under 24 seconds. He extended his lead during the back half of the race with field-best splits on the third and fourth 25s.

Split Comparison, African Records:

Coetze out-split his 2022 self on the first three 25s and was only two-hundredths slower on the final 25 meters, showing his improvements over the last two years. He out-split the record pace by .06 on the first 25 and .09 on the second 25. But the 25 meters where he picked up the most time on his record was on the third 25, where he was .12 seconds faster than he was in 2022.

Coetze’s been on strong form during the opening World Cup stop. He nearly swept the backstroke events; on the first night, he won the 200 backstroke by 2.21 seconds in a lifetime best of 1:49.12. The swim marked his first time breaking 1:50.

Then, he finished second in the 50 backstroke behind World Cup record holder and 50 specialist Isaac Cooper. Coetze moved from fourth to second on the last 25 meters, charging onto the podium with a 22.95, which is just .11 seconds from his African record on that event.