Erin Gallagher joins world champs party bus on final day of SA trials

Erin Gallagher smiles after winning the women’s 100m freestyle final at the South African championships in Gqeberha earlier in the week.
Erin Gallagher smiles after winning the women’s 100m freestyle final at the South African championships in Gqeberha earlier in the week.
Image: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images

Veteran Erin Gallagher finally added her name to the list of world championship qualifiers as she clocked 25.93 sec in the women’s 50m butterfly at the national trials in Gqeberha on Sunday morning.

She torpedoed across the Newton Park pool in 25.93 sec to earn the top seeding for the evening final ahead of Jessica Thompson in 26.51.

Gallagher, a double Olympian, is the seventh swimmer to book a berth for the world championships in Singapore from July to August, comfortably beating the 26.23 automatic qualifying mark.

Pieter Coetzé, one of the other qualifiers, was also in action on the final day of the South African championships, clocking the second-fastest time in the men’s 200m backstroke where he is looking to land his fifth individual title of the week.

Helgaard Muller set the pace in 2 min 01.70 sec, with Coetzé managing a relaxed 2:03.30, not too far off the 1:58.07 qualifying mark he will surely beat in the evening.

Grace Morris was quickest in the women’s 200m backstroke in 2:17.71 and Joshua Emslie took pole position in the men’s 50m butterfly with a 24.41 effort.

Hannah Robertson was quickest in the women’s 400m freestyle heats in 4:18.92 and Righardt Muller was the fastest in the men’s heats in 3:56.20.

The gala ends on Sunday night. 


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