2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
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Bert le Clos first stole the show during a post-race interview at the London 2012 Olympics after his son, Chad, stunned Michael Phelps to win gold in the 200 butterfly. A decade later, Bert is still Chad’s No. 1 supporter as he cheered him on to 200 fly victory at the 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Father & son 🫶 @chadleclos #FINAMelbourne2022 pic.twitter.com/ft8KxHsdcq
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) December 15, 2022
“Le Clos 2.0” continued his resurgence by clocking his fastest SCM 200 fly time of his career (1:48.27). He used his elite turns to rally past Daiya Seto down the stretch, with Bert erupting each time Chad emerged from his underwaters to close the gap. Le Clos posted a blazing 13.82 split on the final length of the pool to clinch the comeback win by nearly a second.
Le Clos has had a tumultuous past couple of years with the multi-Olympic medalist dealing with mental health issues and, more recently, a change in his training environment. You can see that emotion pour out in tears of joy during his victory celebration. Read more about his journey along the comeback trail here.
“I have no words,” le Clos said. “I am just so grateful that I have my coach behind me. I am coming from such a tough place right now, and I am sorry that I am emotional. To be a world champion is like a dream come true again.
“It means so much to me and my family,” he added. “I have been waiting so long for this moment. I have been waiting four years to become world champion again. It comes after defeat after defeat. Tonight I had to fight back against defeat. Thank you to my coach and thank you to my team.
“It’s just a mindset change that came about just in the last few weeks,” le Clos said. “You can see that it means so much to me.”
Entering this meet, le Clos’ lifetime best in this event rested at the 1:48.32 he logged at the 2018 edition of these Short Course World Championships. That result rendered le Clos the new African Record holder and the silver medalist behind Seto.
Three years later in Abu Dhabi, le Clos dropped down one level to grab the bronze, hitting a slower mark of 1:49.84.
Flash forward to this year and le Clos has been on a tear, putting elite racers on notice during the FINA World Cup Series. During the Berlin stop, he logged a time of 1:49.62, with his performance representing the seasoned racer’s fastest time in two years.
Nearly every step of the way, Bert was right there by Chad’s side. He attended every one of his son’s competitions for more than 10 years until the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to miss the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
“I TOLD YOU!”
Chills.
bonus point of the video is watching julian get absolutely torched
ggs to le clos!
Amazing!
Just saddened that he gives all the praise to Dirk so much. The swimsuitguy also contributed a lot to this. What can Dirk do is just give a huge mental boost as his work ethic is world class.. you really have a feeling you can do amazing stuff with him and thats what he needed.
:’)