Pieter Coetzé carried the opening day of the South African championships in Gqeberha on Wednesday, delivering the only world championship qualifying times.
Coetzé twice dipped under the 53.94sec 100m backstroke criterion for automatic entry to the global showpiece in Singapore from July to August, first in the heats and again in the final.
The 20-year-old veteran of two Olympics, who ended fifth in this event in Paris 2024, clocked 53.03 in the morning and went 52.71 in the evening.
Considering that he was given December off, which created fears that he might be a little undercooked at the national trials, the BA student majoring in philosophy and psychology did well to get close to his 52.58 national record.
US-based student Ruard van Renen, the bronze medallist at the NCAA gala recently, was second in 54.77.
While nobody else booked their spots on the opening day, they produced plenty of exciting contests.
Rebecca Meder, who has rekindled her love affair with breaststroke, led from the start to win the 100m crown in a 1min 07.50sec personal best, edging Simone Moll by 0.39sec.
Kaylene Corbett, a 200m specialist, was third in 1:07.99.
Meder had to settle for second in the women’s 200m freestyle, where Dune Coetzee outsprinted her and defending champion Aimee Canny in a tight tussle where all three dipped under two minutes.
Coetzee touched in 1:59.09 ahead of Meder in 1:59.38 and Canny in 1:59.48.
In the men’s 200m freestyle, Matthew Sates unleashed a powerful performance over the second half to see off teenager Kris Mihaylov, touching first in 1:47.49, 0.79sec outside the Singapore standard.
The 17-year-old Mihaylov clocked 1:48.93.
Chris Smith out-duelled Michael Houlie at the death to win an exciting men’s 100m breaststroke, but his 1:01.57 winning time was well outside the 59.75 qualifying standard.
Houlie, who led for the first 75m, touched in 1:01.79.
Jessica Thompson edged Milla Drakopoulos in the women’s 100m backstroke, winning in 1:01.68.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.