{"id":11176,"date":"2025-07-25T09:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T07:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=11176"},"modified":"2025-07-25T09:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T07:43:10","slug":"press-release-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=11176","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Confident Coetz\u00e9 leads the charge for SA\u2019s world champs swimming squad in Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Confident Coetz\u00e9 leads the charge for SA\u2019s world champs swimming squad in Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 July 2025 \u2013 A team of 14 South Africans will dive into action as the swimming programme gets underway at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading the way for the South Africans will be young Pretoria swimmer Pieter Coetz\u00e9, who travelled directly to Singapore from Germany, where he was representing the country at the World University Games. The TUKS psychology student left the Games with a haul of three medals after taking gold in the 50 and 100m backstroke and silver in the 100m freestyle. He was particularly pleased with the times he swam, dipping under 48 seconds for the first time in the 100m freestyle and under 52 seconds in the 100m backstroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coetz\u00e9\u2019s African record time of 51.99 seconds to take the 100m backstroke gold is the fastest in the world this year, boosting not only his confidence but also his chances of reaching the podium in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very happy with how Berlin went and with my performances there,\u201d he said after touching down in Singapore. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t really expected at all. I didn\u2019t really know what to expect to be fair, but to swim a 51 in the 100 backstroke was definitely unexpected and definitely boosted my confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also good to see the freestyle coming along. To go sub-48 was pretty cool and a big PB as well. So it was all a good sign for Singapore. It is quite close after Berlin, but I think things are looking good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coetz\u00e9 was the only South African to medal at the last World Championships in 2024, claiming bronze in the 200m backstroke and faces a tough task to repeat that feat in a competitive field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been some very fast times from all over and the field is very bunched up, but I think that\u2019s just going to bring the best out of all of us, and we\u2019ll push each other so I\u2019m pretty excited to race all these guys who have put up fast times this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also hoping for a great showing in Singapore is Coetz\u00e9\u2019s Pretoria teammate Erin Gallagher, who will compete in the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 100m freestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 100 fly I\u2019m excited to see what I can do and see where I am and what improvements I can make, but I\u2019ve put a lot of my energy and focus onto the 50 fly and 100 free,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 26-year-old was disappointed to miss out on an Olympic final in Paris last year but seems to be in a much better place heading into this competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel much better in my body and much better in training, so I\u2019m really looking forward to world champs because I feel like it\u2019s going to be a way better reflection of what I\u2019m capable of doing in the pool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of four-time Olympic medallist Tatjana Smith, who retired after the Paris Games, Kaylene Corbett and Rebecca Meder will be hoping to keep the country\u2019s flag flying high in the 200m breaststroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corbett is eager to see how a different approach to her training, to fit around her Honours studies this year, will translate in the pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different and I\u2019m excited to see how the difference has changed things \u2013 whether it\u2019s going to be really great. That\u2019s the exciting part,\u201d said the two-time Olympic finalist. \u201cA happy swimmer is a fast swimmer and I\u2019m definitely a lot happier, so I\u2019m really excited to see where this goes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meder will also compete in the 200m individual medley and the 100m breaststroke. She will be in action on Sunday in the 200m individual medley along with USA-based Aimee Canny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be former Youth Olympic champion Michael Houlie and young gun Chris Smith who will be looking to make a mark in the men\u2019s breaststroke events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in the mix for South Africa in Singapore is 21-year-old Matt Sates, who, after a training stint in Switzerland, is looking to bounce back from a disappointing Olympics with a solid showing at the World Championships. The former world short course champion is down to compete in the 200 and 400m individual medley, 200m freestyle and the 100 and 200m butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swimming programme at the World Aquatics Championships runs from 27 July to 3 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SA swimming team:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Caldwell, Aimee Canny, Pieter Coetz\u00e9, Kaylene Corbett, Caitlin de Lange, Erin Gallagher, Michael Houlie,  Rebecca Meder, Georgia Nel, Olivia Nel, Hannah Robertson, Matthew Sates, Chris Smith, Catherine van Rensburg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Confident Coetz\u00e9 leads the charge for SA\u2019s world champs swimming squad in Singapore PRESS RELEASE Confident Coetz\u00e9 leads the charge for SA\u2019s world champs swimming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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\/11176"}],"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=11176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11177,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11176\/revisions\/11177"}],"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=11176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}