The South African swimming team continued to impress on the eleventh day of the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan
Cameron van der Burgh broke his own World Record during the morning heats of the 50m breaststroke, clocking 26.62 but Great Britain’s Adam Peaty was once again close behind and bettered that time in the evening semi-finals to qualify first for tomorrow’s final in 26.42.
The Pretoria based Van der Burgh was happy with his second place qualification in 26.74.
“I am very pleased to be in the final, it is going to be a very tough race tomorrow between Adam and myself and it will definitely take a new World Record to win the gold.
“I take a lot of confidence going into the final, just a lot of rest now to prepare for tomorrow.” concluded Van der Burgh.
Chad le Clos cruised into the final of the 200m butterfly, posting a fast 1:54.50 during tonight’s semi-finals, while earlier on in the 200m freestyle final, Le Clos ended 6th with a time of 1:46.53.
“I started with the 200m freestyle and was a little disappointed not to get up there but I am happy because the 200m butterfly was nice and comfortable and I am through to the final.
“It will be a really hard race tomorrow with Laszlo, a good friend, but I believe I can get the win done. Tomorrow night is very important to me and also the 100m butterfly, so I hope that I can get my hand on the wall first.
“I also want to say thank you to South Africa for all the support.” concluded Le Clos.
Sebastien Rousseau managed a 13th place finish in the 200m butterfly semi-finals in 1:56.96.
“I felt good until the 150m mark and then fell off a bit in the last 50m. I wanted to make the final but it was just not there tonight. I just need to rest before the 400m individual medley on Sunday and do want I can to make the final and take it from there.” said Rousseau.
In the morning heats session, Myles Brown finished the 800m freestyle in 28th place with a time of 8:04.47.
On the Water Polo side, the men’s team lost 16 – 5 to Brazil and will play their final game of the Championships against Kazakhstan on Thursday, for 11th overall position.
South Africa scored through Etienne le Roux (one), Devon Card (one), Dayne Jagga (one), Pierre le Roux (one) and Nicholas Molyneux (one), while the Brazilians netted with goals from Josip Vrlic (five), Felipe Perrone (four), Jonas Crivella (one), Guilherme Gomes (one), Bernardo Gomes (one), Adrian Delgado (two), Bernardo Rocha (one) and Gustavo Guimaraes (one).
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