European Wrap: Mixed Fortunes for SA Swimmers

South Africa’s three top swimmers ended their European sojourn with a bag-full of silverware over the weekend.
Olympic gold medallist Chad le Clos and Myles Brown finished their campaign at the third and final leg of the Mare Nostrum series in Monaco with two medals each.
Le Clos continued his fine form in the 100m butterfly when he touched in a time of 51.66 to tie with Australian swimmer Jayden Hadler.
Ryan Lochte of the United States posted a time of 52.64 to bag the bronze.

Le Clos continued his close tussle with Daiya Seto of Japan, who pipped the South African in the 200m butterfly for the second time this year with a time of 1:54.68.
At the previous leg in Barcelona, Le Clos claimed gold after he unleashed the second fastest time in the world this year behind Seto but had to be content with silver in Monaco with a time of 1:55.47 with third place going to Japan’s Masato Sakai (1:55.83).

Brown collected the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle after finishing in second place in the men’s 200m on Saturday.
The South African hit the wall first in the 400m freestyle in a time of 3:47.96 with Ryan Cochrane of Canada taking silver in 3:49.40 as Germany’s Florian Vogel finished third in 3:49.67.
On Saturday, Brown was beaten by German swimmer Paul Biedermann, who clinched the gold in a time of 1:46.72.
Brown touched the wall in 1:48.45 with American Ryan Lochte taking third place with 1:49.17.

Meanwhile, South African breaststroke ace Cameron van der Burgh walked away with two medals at the annual Sette Colli Trophy in Rome.
Van der Burgh won the 50m breaststroke in the second fastest time this year of 27.01 with Italians Nicolo Ossola and Andrea Toniato finishing second and third with times of 27.51 and 27.56 respectively.
In the 100m breaststroke Van der Burgh had to be content with silver as Lithuanian Giedrius Titenis won in a time of 1:00.10.
Olympic champion Van der Burgh finished in second place with 1:00.77 with Fabio Scozzoli bagging bronze in 1:00.89.

Sourced by: Ockert de Villiers

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