{"id":10222,"date":"2024-07-29T07:14:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T05:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=10222"},"modified":"2024-07-29T07:15:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T05:15:16","slug":"smith-and-coetze-take-a-step-closer-to-the-podium-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=10222","title":{"rendered":"Smith and Coetz\u00e9 take a step closer to the podium in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PRESS RELEASE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith and Coetz\u00e9 take a step closer to the podium in Paris<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

28 July 2024 \u2013 Both Tatjana Smith and Pieter Coetz\u00e9 safely negotiated their way through their respective semifinals on day two of the swimming competition at the Olympic Games in Paris on Sunday, ensuring they\u2019ll have a shot at reaching the podium in Monday\u2019s finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A relaxed-looking Smith was first up in the 100m breaststroke, cruising to victory in exactly the same time she swam in the morning heat \u2013 1:05.00. That sees the Tokyo silver medallist in the event through to Monday\u2019s final as the fastest qualifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland\u2019s Mona McSharry was second quickest in 1:05.51 and American Lilly King third in 1:05.64, with Lithuania\u2019s 2012 Olympic gold medallist Ruta Meilutyt\u0117 surprisingly missing out on a place in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be swimming much faster times. That\u2019s my fastest time since Tokyo but I think most of all, it\u2019s not even for me anymore or about the time. It\u2019s just really enjoying the experience and I\u2019m having so much more fun,\u201d said Smith after the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited. I\u2019m so glad to have a lane in the final. Obviously, lane four is a really nice lane. It\u2019s a blessing but also sometimes not\u2026 you never know what to expect so, if you have a lane you have a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know I\u2019ve prepared as best as I could so now is the fun part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coetz\u00e9 was up next in the men\u2019s 100m backstroke. He finished joint second in his semifinal, bettering the African record he set at the National Championships in Gqeberha earlier this year by touching the wall in a time of 52.63 seconds. That saw him through to the finals as the joint third fastest swimmer along with Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, with only China\u2019s Jiayu Xu and Italian Thomas Ceccon ahead of the duo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t thinking about time at all going into this. I just wanted to make the final so to get the time is always nice but it\u2019s not really about times here,\u201d said a thrilled Coetz\u00e9 afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad I made it back. At the Olympics, you just want a spot in the final because you can\u2019t win a medal if you\u2019re not in the final so you have to take it step by step and that\u2019s how I like to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aimee Canny was the only other South African swimmer in action on Sunday night. The US-based star had finished fifth in her 200m freestyle heat in the morning in a time 1:57.81 to qualify for her first-ever Olympic semifinal. She went slightly quicker in the evening, finishing in 1:57.34 to finish sixth but missed out on the final by just two places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was OK, not a terrible time. I didn\u2019t feel the greatest but I just tried to soak it all in and it\u2019s an amazing atmosphere,\u201d said Canny afterwards. \u201cI think I was a bit all over the place, up and down and I think that broke my momentum a bit but it\u2019s something to work on. That\u2019s my first individual race at the Olympics so big wins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swimming action continues in Paris on Monday with Coetz\u00e9 lining up in the 100m backstroke final at 9.19pm and Smith competing in the 100m breaststroke final just after, at 9.25pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– ENDS –<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE Smith and Coetz\u00e9 take a step closer to the podium in Paris 28 July 2024 \u2013 Both Tatjana Smith and Pieter Coetz\u00e9 safely…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10223,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10222\/revisions\/10223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}