South African Momentum Halted on Final Day

At the 2012 South African Olympic Swim Trials in Durban, Karin Prinsloo has had some wins. She victored in the 100 back; she conquered the 200 free. But still, headed into the final day of competition, she wasn’t assured of her spot on the Olympic Team.

She pretty much wrapped that up though on the final day of competition Sunday when she combined the two into a dominating 2:10.76 win in the 200 back. That’s her third Olympic Automatic Qualifying Time of the year, which should meet the standards of South African Swimming.

Shortly after Prinsloo’s success, we saw some disappointment in the men’s 100 fly, where Chad le Clos continued to fatigue as this meet wears on. He won the race, but only in 52.45, which is slower than he’s been in other unrested meets. Unless this is an effect of him still being in heavy training, I think that he probably ends up dropping this event individually at the Olympics too, and swims the 200 fly, the two IM’s, and a pair of relays (400 medley/800 free). This 100 fly would come the day before the medley finals, and if the South Africans want to challenge for a medal (and with Charl Crous’ emergence, they are within that range) he might do well to sit this 100 fly out.

Future Michigan swimmer Dylan Bosch took 2nd in 53.89, which shows what a monster player he will be in the Big Ten even as a freshman.

Meanwhile, in the 50 free final, Roland Schoeman won in 22.23. That’s still a good time for him, but is .15 slower than his Automatic Qualifying Time from the semi-finals. He should be allowed to swim the race at the Olympics anyway, though by the letter of the qualifying he hasn’t swum the OQT at two different meets. There’s really not much to be lost by putting him in this race at the end of the meet, and with all he has done for the popularity of swimming in South African, he deserves a final shot at an individual Olympic swim (if indeed this is the end for him). Based on what we saw at last year’s World Championships, however, SSA might not have the same feelings toward him as his fans do.

American-trained Bradley Tandy took 2nd in 22.35, which is the best time of his career. When he becomes eligible to advance from Junior College to the NCAA level after next season, he will have every major program ringing his phone with big scholarship offers.

Gideon Louw took 3rd in 22.45, and Graeme Moore took 4th in 23.00; that means that just like the 100, the top four swimmers in this final are all American trained. For Moore, that’s another disappointing result after he was supposed to dominate the sprints.

Wrapping up the Olympic qualifying in the meet was the distance freestyles. Wendy Trott, no surprise, won the women’s 800 in 8:30.61. That was two-seconds slower than the 8:28.7 we saw from her in the prelims, which is about right for a rested-not-tapered swim for her.

Jessica Pengelly took 2nd in 8:41.40, with 15-year old Michelle Weber placing 3rd in 8:44.10. Weber had to have been hoping for better in this race, as the time is basically identical to what she swam at this meet last year, and most swimmers make a big leap between 14 and 15.

Heerden Hermaan won the men’s 1500 free easily in 15:07.99. Though that will give him an Olympic swim, I was hoping for better than that after a great 400 from earlier in the meet. He didn’t have much in the way of competition in this race.

And with that, the trials have wrapped up and it becomes a waiting game to see who makes the Olympic Team. There were a lot of great swims in this meet, that got off to a hot start (especially the first day with the men’s and women’s 400 IM’s), but the final day was a bit disappointing and may have cost some momentum headed toward the big season.

Full, Live Results available here.