Gallagher ‘shocked’ by record-breaking swim

Erin Gallagher surprised herself by breaking the African 100m butterfly record on the opening day of the swimming gala at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha on Sunday.

Gallagher took third place in her first-round heat in 57.59 seconds in the morning session, and while she was a little slower in the evening semifinals, her 57.92 was quick enough to book her place in the final to be held on Monday night.

She clipped 0.05 off her own continental mark of 57.64 which she set when she grabbed the silver medal at last year’s World Student Games in Chengdu.

“I really didn’t expect to swim a best time and break the African record. That was a really big treat for me,” Gallagher said.

“Being the first race of the gala, with the nerves and breaking the ice, sometimes you can have a bit of a rusty swim and you realise what you need to work on, so to see that African record next to my time was a really big shock for me.”

Other results

There was disappointment, however, for veteran swimmer Chad le Clos who crashed out in the men’s 50m butterfly semifinals.

After winning his heat in 23.47 in the morning, he went on to settle for eighth position in his semifinal in 23.68.

Duné Coetzee finished 14th overall in the 400m freestyle heats in 4:12.03, also missing out on the final, while Matthew Randle was 28th overall in the 100m breaststroke heats in 1:01.80.