<\/p>\n\n\n\n
16 April 2023 \u2013 Teen swimming sensation Pieter Coetz\u00e9 wrapped up the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha with another Olympic qualifying time on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 18-year-old, who has already recorded a qualifying time for Paris 2024 in the 100m backstroke, added the 200m backstroke time, cruising to victory in 1:56.66 \u2013 also an A qualifier for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coetz\u00e9 withdrew from the 50m butterfly final on Sunday to focus on the backstroke event and was duly rewarded with the fifth fastest time in the world this season in the 200m backstroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was feeling a little bit tired so I thought it might not go well tonight. So I\u2019m actually a little bit shocked with that but very happy,\u201d said Coetz\u00e9, who explained he\u2019s still working on perfecting the 200m event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would like to be out in 56 and still bring it back in the same time because the top guys in the world are going out fast. I\u2019ve always been a bit of a backend swimmer so that\u2019s something I have to work on. But this was a bit of a better split than what I usually do which is negative splitting so I can definitely see the improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m just very, very happy. I\u2019ve qualified for Paris now in the 100 and 200 so I\u2019m just over the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the medal presentation, Coetz\u00e9 gifted his gold medal to the thrilled Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nocawe Mafu, who attended the last night of the championships in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also achieving an A-qualification time for the World Championships was Erin Gallagher. The 24-year-old added to her 100m butterfly victory by taking the 50m butterfly in a time of 26.31, ahead of Rebecca Meder (26.87) and 15-year-old Jessica Thompson (26.91).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we always hope to go faster but it always comes down to the race and there was really good competition in that race so I was happy to come away with the win to be honest. There are some fast little 15-year-olds there so the tables have turned now, but I\u2019m happy with the win and I know what I need to work on so I\u2019m very happy overall,\u201d said Gallagher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also an A-qualifier in the 400m freestyle, Dun\u00e9 Coetzee claiming the title in 4:10.49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tried to go fast from the beginning but my first 200 I wasn\u2019t as in control as I wanted to be. I wanted to feel the water, which is something I can fix, but I came back really strong which I\u2019m very happy about,\u201d said Coetzee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the day Emma Chelius swam a time trial with the goal of achieving the A qualifying time she just missed on her way to the 50m freestyle title on Saturday night. And it was mission accomplished as the Olympic semifinalist reached the wall in a speedy 24.78.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just felt like I still had more to give and it\u2019s always nice to make the most of a long block of training and then a taper because we don\u2019t get that very often,\u201d said Chelius. \u201cAnd especially for a 50 I think all those small details have to come together so I really just wanted to have another crack at it. I\u2019m very glad that it paid off and I feel very relieved and happy that it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I was a lot more aggressive this morning. I knew I had nothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veteran Roland Schoeman wrapped up his return to the championships with a first national title since 2015. The 42-year-old claimed the win in the 50m butterfly ahead of Clayton Jimmie and Ryan Coetzee, but his time of 23.83 fell short of the A-qualifying time for the World Championships. The top three in the race, did nevertheless achieve B qualifying times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Kat Swanepoel continued her sensational form in the events for swimmers with a disability. Despite breaking a finger during her warm-up, the Paralympic star broke the SA and African record in the SM4 150m individual medley, setting a new mark of 2:56.84. That also saw her dipping under the A-qualifying time for the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester by a massive margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other swimmers who achieved the required A-qualifying times were Christian Sadie in the SM7 200m individual medley (2:36.39), Alani Ferreira in the S13 400m freestyle (5:01.56) and Nathan Hendrik in the men\u2019s S13 400m freestyle (4:28.79).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swimmers who achieved A qualifying times for the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan at the SA National Aquatic Championships:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Women:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aimee Canny: 200m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emma Chelius: 50m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dun\u00e9 Coetzee: 400, 800m freestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kaylene Corbett: 200m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Erin Gallagher: 50, 100m butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rebecca Meder: 200m individual medley<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tatjana Schoenmaker: 50, 100, 200m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lara van Niekerk: 50, 100m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pieter Coetz\u00e9: 50, 100m, 200m backstroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Houlie: 50m breaststroke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chad le Clos: 100, 200m butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Sates: 100m butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 16 April 2023 \u2013 Teen swimming sensation Pieter Coetz\u00e9 wrapped up the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha with another Olympic qualifying time on Sunday.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8863,"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\/8864"}],"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=8864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8865,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8864\/revisions\/8865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kznaquatics.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}