{"id":12210,"date":"2026-04-19T17:44:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=12210"},"modified":"2026-04-19T17:44:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:44:45","slug":"classy-coetze-delivers-five-from-five-as-pearse-secures-commonwealth-games-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/?p=12210","title":{"rendered":"Classy Coetz\u00e9 delivers five from five as Pearse secures Commonwealth Games qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

18 April 2026 \u2013 Hannah Pearse was the final addition to the Commonwealth Games qualifying list on the last day of the Bombela Concession Company SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 23-year-old couldn\u2019t hold back her tears after sailing to victory in the 200m backstroke in a time of 2 minutes 10.92 seconds to take a step closer to achieving her ambition of competing at the Commonwealth Games, which take place in Glasgow in July\/August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal. It\u2019s a big dream, so I can\u2019t believe the dream finally came true,\u201d said the neurophysiology honours student after the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew I had it in me, but I wasn’t sure. It\u2019s been a rough year with lots of ups and downs. So the belief was there, but it was a deep-down belief and we had to really dig deep to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also securing a comfortable victory in the 200m backstroke was fellow Pretoria swimmer Pieter Coetz\u00e9. Having taken it easy in the morning heats, the 21-year-old was considerably faster in the final, taking his fifth individual win of the championships in 1:55.26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to swim this race very back-end based, and I want to get my body used to going out a bit faster\u2026 I would have liked to go out a bit faster than that, but it\u2019s okay,\u201d he said afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for his overall performance in Gqeberha, where he achieved Commonwealth Games qualifying times in all five of his events, Coetz\u00e9 added: \u201cThis is only my second meet in about nine months. So I think it\u2019s a great base and I\u2019ve got about two months now to go back to work and make sure I put in a good performance at Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other two Commonwealth Games qualifiers on Saturday were Erin Gallagher and Caitlin de Lange, who finished first and second in the 50m butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both swimmers had already achieved the qualifying time in the morning heats and did it again in the evening, Gallagher taking the title in 25.63 seconds and De Lange claiming silver in 25.98.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was always going to be close. It\u2019s all about the start and the finish and timing everything perfectly,\u201d explained Gallagher, who also won the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle titles at these championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou never really know what to expect, and it\u2019s always great when it pays off. But it\u2019s a splash and dash. You don’t have much time to think, you kind of just close your eyes and go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lange agreed. \u201cThe 50 is always such a hit-or-miss. From the start you either feel so great or so bad, and you just ride along with it. But that was a really fun race,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Calvyn Justus completed his remarkable return to the pool after a devastating back injury by winning his first national title in a decade in the 50m butterfly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a battle of the veterans as 30-year-old Justus just held off 34-year-old Chad le Clos, winning in 23.68 seconds with Le Clos second by just one hundredth of a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still a newcomer to the butterfly, Justus was thrilled with the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe butterfly’s still so new to me. I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like yet\u2026 That was only the second time I’ve ever done it, so it’s still pretty foreign to me and I think I need a lot more work in cleaning up. But we’ll take it, a win’s a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a ton of fun racing Chad,\u201d added the Los Angeles-based swimmer. \u201cI grew up with him so it’s kind of like a full circle moment. I think that was a special way to come back to South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the evening, Matthew Caldwell completed his hat-trick of titles, adding the 400m freestyle to his 800 and 1500m golds after winning in 3:53.02. Dun\u00e9 Coetzee successfully defended her 400m freestyle title by winning in 4:11.35. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 13 swimmers achieved Commonwealth Games qualifying times at the Bombela Concession Company SA Swimming Championships, with Pieter Coetz\u00e9 emerging as the standout male swimmer after securing five titles and matching qualifying marks, while Aimee Canny led the women with four titles and qualifying performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commonwealth Games qualifiers achieved at the Bombela Concession Company SA Swimming Championships 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aimee Canny: 200m freestyle, 100m, 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pieter Coetz\u00e9: 50m, 100m & 200m backstroke, 50m &100m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaylene Corbett: 200m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cailtin de Lange: 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erin Gallagher: 50m & 100m butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Houlie: 50m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calvyn Justus: 50m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca Meder: 200m individual medley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah Pearse: 200m backstroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Smith: 50m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Thompson: 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lara van Niekerk: 50m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruard van Renen: 50m & 100m backstroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

PRESS RELEASE 18 April 2026 \u2013 Hannah Pearse was the final addition to the Commonwealth Games qualifying list on the last day of the Bombela…<\/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\/12210"}],"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=12210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12211,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210\/revisions\/12211"}],"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=12210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}