Chad le Clos highlighted the first day of the SA National Swimming Championships (25m)

He ducked below the 100 metre freestyle qualifying during the morning heats before doing it again in the final clocking a winning time of 46.45 seconds. Twenty-year-old Zane Waddell posted a qualifying time of 47.54 finishing second behind Le Clos.  Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Ryan Coetzee finished third with a time of 48.23.

Commonwealth women’s 100-200m breaststroke medallists Tatjana Schoenmaker also booked her place during the preliminary rounds. She won the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:18.93 dipping below the qualifying mark for the second time on the day. Emily Visagie added her name to the list of qualifiers finishing second behind Schoenmaker in 2:23.03 with Christin Mundell bagging bronze with 2:26.80.

Erin Gallagher, who was one of the star swimmers at the Commonwealth Games won the women's 100m with a world qualifying time of 53.34, while teenager Olivia Nel won silver posting a time of 55.52 with Marlies Ross rounding off the podium clocking 56.05.

Mariella Venter won the women's 200m backstroke with a time of 2:08.28 beating Samantha Randle to the wall. Randle touched second in 2:12.82 with Abi Meder finishing third with 2:17.01.

Sixteen-year-old Rebecca Meder narrowly missed out on qualifying for the world championships in the 800m freestyle. She won the distance event with a time of 8:36.35 ahead of Kate Beavon in second place (8:38.16) with Duné Coetzee taking third in 8:42.70.

In the men's 1500m freestyle Josh Dannhauser won in 14:59.43 with Aryan Makhija finishing second with 15:10.94. Chad Michau claimed bronze in 15:19.53.

Heats start at 09h00 while the finals begin at 17h00 every day.

Qualifying Times following Day 01 – World Short-Course Championships:

Men:

Chad le Clos - 100m freestyle (46.45)

Zane Waddell - 100m freestyle (47.54)

Women:

Tatjana Schoenmaker - 200m breaststroke - 2:18.93

Emily Visagie - 200m breaststroke - 2:23.03

Erin Gallagher - 100m freestyle (53.34)

The staging of this event has been made possible through the support provided by Swimming SA partners, Sport and Recreation South Africa, SASCOC, Arena, Rand Water and the National Lotteries Commission.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Swimming South Africa

011 404 2480

Swimming South Africa is the governing body of aquatics in South Africa.

Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in South Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to South Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level. Swimming South Africa is kindly supported by SASCOC, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Arena, Sport & Recreation SA and Rand Water.