{"id":10795,"date":"2025-04-07T10:37:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T08:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=10795"},"modified":"2025-04-12T09:21:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T07:21:43","slug":"no-smith-or-le-clos-as-rising-stars-take-centre-stage-at-sa-swimming-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=10795","title":{"rendered":"No Smith or Le Clos as rising stars take centre stage at SA Swimming Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

No Smith or Le Clos as rising stars take centre stage at SA Swimming Championships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 April 2025 \u2013 A changing of the guard will be keenly felt at this week’s SA Senior National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha, as the start sheets reveal the notable absence of icons Tatjana Smith and Chad le Clos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith retired from the sport after claiming gold and silver at last year\u2019s Olympic Games in Paris while 2012 Olympic champion Chad le Clos is taking an extended break to recover from injury. This will be the first time in 20 years he won\u2019t be competing, although he will be on the pool deck offering encouragement to those who are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will still be plenty of great swimming on the cards, though, as the current crop of athletes target qualification for the World Championships taking place in Singapore from 27 July to 3 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them is Olympic finalist Pieter Coetz\u00e9 who has had to adapt to balancing swimming with his first-year psychology studies at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year has been very interesting. I started studying so it\u2019s pretty new to me, having to manage my time a bit more outside of the pool,\u201d explained the 20-year-old. \u201cBut I\u2019ve kept up my training and the standard\u2019s quite high, so I\u2019m in good shape and I\u2019m excited to qualify for a few events for the World Championships,\u201d added Coetz\u00e9 who is looking to qualify for the global event in the  50, 100 and 200m backstroke and the 50 and 100m freestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coetz\u00e9 is likely to face stiff competition from US-based backstroker Ruard van Renen, who reached the final of the 100m backstroke at last year\u2019s World Short Course Championships \u2013 his first major international meet.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraining has been better than ever, I\u2019ve just finished with a great collegiate year going a bunch of PBs and All-American titles, so confidence heading into nationals is at an all-time high,\u201d said Van Renen, who is coached by former SA swimmer Neil Versfeld at the University of Georgia. \u201cEven though it\u2019s a different pool, I know the work that me and Neil have put in will show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also one to keep an eye on this week is Rebecca Meder. A year ago, the New Zealand-based star suffered a ruptured appendix just a few weeks before the national championships, so things are likely to look very different this time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been doing lots of racing in New Zealand in preparation for Nationals and my times have been looking really strong and pretty solid in training, which has been quite positive,\u201d said Meder who will be competing in the 100 and 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompared to last year, there\u2019s not really much comparison\u2026 This year is a very different set-up. I\u2019m looking forward to actually racing at Nationals\u2026 The world is swimming fast at the moment, so I think us South Africans are having to hop on that fast train and see how fast we can go too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meder won\u2019t have things all her own way in the 200m breaststroke with two-time Olympic finalist Kaylene Corbett still in the mix and hunting for a national title. Double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lara van Niekerk has chosen to forgo the championships, however, to focus on training after a long injury layoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men\u2019s breaststroke events are likely to provide a fascinating match-up between fellow World Short Course Championships finalists Michael Houlie and Chris Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houlie is feeling confident heading into the championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy with the work that\u2019s been put in. I know that when I\u2019m at my best I am having fun, staying loose and playful and that really enables me to just be present and trust the process\u2026 I\u2019m very motivated and focused for this year,\u201d said Houlie, who is targeting a final World University Games appearance this year as well as the World Championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Sates will also be out to impress after a training stint in Switzerland with Olympic bronze medallist No\u00e8 Ponti.  It will be a busy week for the Pietermaritzburg swimmer who is entered into 10 events. His fellow Olympian Erin Gallagher is entered into five and is sure to dominate the butterfly sprints while Aimee Canny will look to defend her 100 and 200m freestyle titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SA Senior National Swimming Championships take place at Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha from 9-13 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

PRESS RELEASE No Smith or Le Clos as rising stars take centre stage at SA Swimming Championships 7 April 2025 \u2013 A changing of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10795"}],"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=10795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10796,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10795\/revisions\/10796"}],"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=10795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}