Smith and Corbett return to Olympic final; Coetzé targets backstroke podium
31 July 2024 – All three of South Africa’s swimmers in action at the Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday night progressed to their respective finals with Tatjana Smith taking a step closer to completing her quest for double gold in the French capital.
The newly crowned 100m breaststroke champion was beaten to the wall by American Kate Douglass in her 200m breaststroke semifinal, finishing second in 2:19.94, but was nevertheless pleased with the result.
“It was amazing… I’m so happy with that time so it doesn’t really matter where I came,” said Smith after the race. “It was such a good race, I think that’s a part of what sport is, pushing each other
“It really just brings out the best version of me and I can only be happy.”
Also making her way through to her second consecutive Olympic 200m breaststroke final was fellow Pretoria swimmer Kaylene Corbett, who shared the pool with Smith when she won gold in Tokyo in world record time three years ago.
Corbett also finished second in her semifinal behind Dutchwoman Tes Schouten in a time of 2:22.87.
Smith progressed to the final as the second-fastest qualifier while Corbett went through as fourth fastest.
Corbett was thrilled that her semifinal went much better than her morning heat.
“I was a little bit worried after this morning,” she said. “I really am just happy that I could push through another set, another 200 breaststroke and I think it went really well tonight,
“This is the fastest I’ve been since Tokyo, so I’m very, very happy with that time, slowly but surely chipping away at what I want one day. There’s definitely still a lot of fuel in the tank for a longer career. It’s not necessarily fuel in the tank for tomorrow, but I’m just really happy that I get to share this moment [with Tatjana].”
Meanwhile, Pieter Coetzé booked his spot in his second final of the Games by finishing second behind Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov in his 200m backstroke semifinal in a time of 1:56.09. That sees him through to Thursday night’s final as the third-fastest qualifier.
“This morning was way more smooth and obviously some races are going to hurt more than others,” he said afterwards. “I definitely felt it a bit tonight, but I think with the rest that I’ll get now before the final the body will recover and I’ll be ready tomorrow.”
Asked what time he thought it might take to reach the podium, the 20-year-old reckoned: “Everyone’s always talking about times, but I can promise you none of these swimmers care about their times. Maybe in the back of their minds they do, but they’d rather swim a slower time and win a medal than swim their PB.
“Speaking for myself, swim the PB and get fifth place, I would rather swim slow and get a medal. You just never know what to expect, I’m just going to let it happen.”
Olympic swimming action continues at La Defense Arena in Paris on Thursday morning with Matthew Sates lining up in heat 2 of the 200m individual medley at 11.52am.
Coetzé’s 200m backstroke final is scheduled for 8.38pm tomorrow evening while Smith and Corbett are set to compete in the 200m breaststroke final at 9.11pm. These times are subject to change.
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