Gold and a new Championship Record for Cameron van der Burgh during the second day of the 14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)
Van der Burgh broke Brazil’s Filipe Franca da Silva’s 2014 time of 56.29 by clocking a golden 56.01, while Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich finished with the silver in 56.10 and Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki with the bronze in 56.13.
With the 7th fastest semi-final time of 52.70, Erin Gallagher successfully qualified for the final of the 100m freestyle and broke her own African Record in the process. Gallagher first bettered her record, which stood at 53.34, during the morning heats, touching the wall in 53.09 and later improved on that time during the semi-finals, shedding another 0.39secs.
Olympian Chad le Clos also secured his place in the 100m butterfly final tomorrow after a fast finish in the semi-finals, clocking 49.07 and coming 2nd behind the USA’s Caeleb Dressel in 48.93.
Le Clos also swam the 200m freestyle but just missed out on a spot in the finals, ending in 10th place with a time of 1:43.19.
During the morning heats session, Ryan Coetzee finished 22nd in the 100m butterfly in 51.65, while the quartet of Douglas Erasmus, Rebecca Meder, Gallagher and Brad Tandy concluded the 4 x 50m mixed freestyle relay in 13th place with a time of 1:33.21.
It will be a busy day for the South African swimming team tomorrow, as Tandy and Erasmus take on the 50m freestyle, with Tandy also swimming in the 100m individual medley, while Gallagher participates in the 50m butterfly, Meder in the 100m individual medley and Ayrton Sweeney races in the 200m breaststroke.
ENDS
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