Day 3 of the Para World Swimming Championships in London

None of the country’s swimmers were involved on the second day of the Championships on Tuesday, but they were back in action the following day.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Christian Sadie finished seventh in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final clocking a new African Record of 1:23.72. Sadie chopped more than a second-and-a-half off his personal best that he posted during the morning heats, which was also a continental record. Colombia’s Carlos Zarate Serrano won the race in a time of 1:11.31.

Franco Smit continued to show-off his fine form at the Championships, smashing the 50m freestyle S12 continental record. He set a new African mark in the morning heats with a time of 25.51 and finished seventh in the evening’s final with a time of 25.30, slicing 0.21secs off the time he set earlier in the day.

Adding to the day of records, Cornelle Leach raced to a new personal best in the women’s 50m freestyle S12 with a time of 32.75. Leach finished 12th overall missing out on a place in the final.

The World Para Swimming Championships is held in the same venue as the London 2012 Paralympics and is a crucial qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The championships will run until September 15.

SA IPC Swimming Team in London are:

Men

Hendrik van der Merwe

Christian Sadie

Hendri Herbst

Franco Smi

Women

Alani Ferreira

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.