The records tumble at the Stellenbosch leg of the SA Grand Prix Invitational Swimming Meet
Olympian Chad le Clos delivered a breathtaking performance in the 200m butterfly with a new Meet best of 1:56.54, to his previous time of 1:56.96. The silver in the event went to Myles Brown in 2:02.10 and the bronze to Ayrton Sweeney in 2:05.22.
Brown went on to win the gold in the 100m freestyle ahead of Douglas Erasmus in 51.25 as well as Jarryd Baxter and Alaric Basson, who shared the third place in 52.08, while Erasmus went one better in the 50m butterfly, winning in a golden time of 24.62 ahead of Reynard Wessels and Ralph Goveia, both clocking 24.85.
The records continued to tumble with 14 year old Rebecca Meder, as she raced to the gold medal in the 200m individual medley with a new Meet record time of 2:19.38, followed by Hanim Abrahams in 2:24.14 and Kristen Straszacker in 2:24.96.
Meder also won the silver medal in the 200m freestyle in 2:04.55, ahead of Kate Beavon in 2:05.36 and behind Dune Coetzee in 2:04.45, while Coetzee and Beavon were not done for the day as they claimed the gold in their respective 100m butterfly and 800m freestyle races, clocking 1:03.10 and 8:58.09.
Tatjana Schoenmaker followed the record breaking trend, bettering her own Meet record in the 100m breaststroke when she touched the wall in a fast 1:09.28, to her previous 1:09.39. The second place went to Kaylene Corbett in 1:09.61 and the third to Abrahams in 1:11.35.
In the 50m backstroke, Mariella Venter topped the medal podium in 29.47, with Kiara Noades taking the silver medal in 30.76 and Hannah Kiely the bronze in 30.91. Venter claimed her second gold in the 200m backstroke in 2:17.85, while Noades followed in 2:22.11 and Gabi Grobler came third in 2:22.60.
Emma Chelius won the 50m freestyle race in 26.35 and was followed by Inge Weidemann in 26.78 and Alice van der Merwe in 26.94.
Michael Houlie was victorious on two occasions as he scooped the gold in both the 50 and 200m breaststroke events. Houlie shared the gold with Basson in the 200m race, as they both finished in 2:17.36 but was faster in the 50m with a time of 28.45 to Basson’s 29.19.
In the 400m individual medley, Luan Grobbelaar was over 9 seconds ahead of the competition when he took home the gold in 4:31.48, while Luke Erwee finished second in 4:41.72 and Dylan Wright third in 4:42.48.
Jack Oliver took the title in the 100m backstroke in 58.15, ahead of Credence Pattinson in 58.46 and Chris King in 59.50, while Matthew Meyer won the 400m freestyle in 3:54.92, to Brent Szurdoki’s 3:55.76 and Jarryd Baxter’s 3:59.70.
The SA Grand Prix Invitational Swimming Meet concludes tomorrow with the finals session beginning at 10h00.
ENDS
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.