Two more breaststrokers booked their tickets to the World Championships in Singapore later this year after swimming the qualifying times on the penultimate night of action at the SA National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Saturday.
Both defending champion Michael Houlie and Chris Smith achieved the required mark in the morning heats of the 50m breaststroke and did it again in the final. It was Houlie who emerged as the winner, successfully defending his title in a time of 26.90 seconds with Smith second in 27.11 seconds.
“I think coming into this afternoon, I was really excited, I backed myself as well and know that when it's time to race, to have that big match temperament, I know I can deliver, so I’m just happy I got my hand to the wall first,” said Houlie, who was thrilled with the win after his heat time was just one hundredth of a second slower than Smith’s.
“He's very young with a lot of potential and it's just awesome to have another world-class breaststroker to push each other,” he added of the 19-year-old.
The other world champs qualifier of the day came from Pieter Coetzé in the heats of the 50m freestyle. The 20-year-old sped to victory in his heat in 22.05 and, although he was slower in the evening final, still safely secured the title in 22.45 seconds.
“I just wasn't really feeling it this afternoon as well as I did this morning, because it’s all about your feel for the water in the 50, so I felt more smooth this morning,” he said after the final.
“I think this morning I just had no expectations so it worked out well… I’m very inconsistent in this event, it’s kind of more fun for me, the 50 free, so after I got the time this morning, I was happy to get the win tonight.”
Just missing out on a qualifying time in the 100m butterfly was Erin Gallagher. She took the title in a time of 59.16 seconds with Rebecca Meder second in 58.95. While disappointed, the two-time Olympian is hopeful of a better result in the 50m event.
“I definitely should be under the qualifying time regardless of where I’m at in my training, but I told myself before this meet that I wasn't going to let my time define my happiness and my worth at this gala.
“I think my 50s are better at the moment than my hundreds, so fingers crossed that I can do the time in the 50 [butterfly].”
Matt States claimed the men’s 100m butterfly gold in a time of 52.92 seconds – his fifth title of the championships so far.
Earlier in the evening, Simoné Moll raced to her first ever national title, winning the 50m breaststroke in a time of 31.33 seconds. Her thoughts immediately turned to her training partner Lara van Niekerk, who holds the African record in the event but is missing out on the national championships as she continues to make her way back from injury.
“It feels amazing. I will say I miss swimming with Tatjana and Lara here. It felt a little bit empty in the pool without them, but I mean I'm super happy, it feels amazing to finally get this,” said Moll afterwards.
Caitlin de Lange took the 50m freestyle title in 25.02 seconds, the same time as her morning heat. Matthew Caldwell claimed his second distance gold of the meet, winning the 800m freestyle in 8:07.31 to add to his 1500m freestyle title, while Duné Coetzee took the win in the women’s 800m freestyle, winning in 8:38.08.
Meanwhile, in the Para-swimming events, there were new national records for both Danika Vyncke and Alani Ferreira. Ferreira set the new mark for the S12 100m freestyle at 1:07.90 while Vyncke set the S13 record at 1:05.04.
National Championship action at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha comes to an end on Sunday.
Photo credits: Roger Sedres/Swimming SA