There also more joy for Pieter Coetzé who added to the gold medal he won earlier in the week.
Kaylene Corbett said she was “really stoked” after winning a first World Aquatics medal on Friday, after powering into third place for the bronze medal in Singapore.
The Pretoria-based swimmer finished in a tie for third in the 200m breaststroke final, one of the events of former world record holder and four-time Olympic champion Tatjana Smith.
Corbett said swimming next to Smith throughout her career helped her achieve her goal on Friday.
“Even though the world record-holder was there [Friday], even though the Olympic champion was there, I’ve been fortunate enough to swim next to Tatjana, so I know that those titles don’t always mean everything all the time.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to swim under pressure next to her my whole career basically so it’s really special to be able to win this medal. I just wish she was on the podium with me.
“It’s been a really hectic year, and it just feels like it really came together when it should, so I’m just really, really stoked about it. I’m very, very happy,” said an emotional Corbett.
“I just think that I gave everything I had, and I’m just really proud of myself with that performance.”
Corbett shared the bronze medal with Russian Alina Zmushka in a time of 2:23.52.
Coetzé claims second medal of champs
In her race, the 26-year-old reached the first turn in fifth place and steadily worked her way up to fourth by the second and third. A final push saw her surging into medal contention.
Olympic champion Kate Douglass of the USA took the gold in a championship record time of 2:18.50, the second fastest time in history, with world record-holder Evgeniia Chikunova second in 2:19.96.
Meanwhile Pieter Coetzé claimed a second medal of the championships, a silver in the 200m backstroke. On Tuesday he won gold in the 100m backstroke final.
The Pretoria swimmer went out hard in the final, turning first at both the 50 and 100m marks under world record pace, but was hunted down in the second half of the race by Olympic champion Hubert Kόs.
Coetzé finished in 1:53.36 seconds, just 0.17 of a second off the gold. That took almost a second off the African record he set in the semi-finals and is the seventh fastest time in history.
“This has exceeded all my expectations and it’s just a big honour to be in a race like that,” said an elated Coetzé afterwards.
“I kind of expected to be out very fast. I could feel that I was moving at a high pace, and I knew that I would feel it in the end, and I did.
“But it’s a big PB for me so I’m super-happy with the time.”
