Pietermaritzburg’s Matthew Sates delivered two outstanding performances in the 200 m individual medley and the 100 m butterfly with an Olympic Qualification time while Tatjana Schoenmaker produced a thrilling final day to the Durban leg of the Swimming Grand Prix at the weekend.
The two-day Grand Prix was held at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre on Saturday and Sunday.
Schoenmaker dominated the finals, adding two gold medals to her tally in the 50 and 200m breaststroke.
In the 200m event, the 23-year-old clocked an Olympic Qualification time of 2:22.70 ahead of Kaylene Corbett, who won the silver in an Olympic Qualification time of 2:25.50, to the 2:25.52 requirement. The bronze medal went to Lara van Niekerk in 2:31.30.
Matthew Sates – 200m individual medley – 1:57.60 (heats)
Matthew Sates – 100m butterfly – 51.85 (heats)
Tatjana Schoenmaker – 100m breaststroke – 1:06.88
Tatjana Schoenmaker – 200m breaststroke – 2:22.70
Kaylene Corbett – 200m breaststroke – 2:25.50
In the 50m race, Schoenmaker finished with the honours in 30.74, followed by Van Niekerk in 31.04 and Caitlin de Lange in 32.08, while De Lange went two better to win the 50m butterfly gold medal in 27.68 ahead of Natalie Landmann in 28.01 and Kerryn Herbst in 28.44.
In the 200m individual medley, Rebecca Meder scooped the gold medal in 2:15.43, with the silver and bronze going to Dakota Tucker in 2:18.75 and Marizel van Jaarsveld in 2:20.64, while the 100m freestyle saw Emma Chelius win the gold medal in 55.59 ahead of Hannah Robertson in 57.52 and Veronique Rossouw in 58.38.
Van Jaarsveld also claimed the bronze in the 200m butterfly in 2:22.75, behind Dune Coetzee in 2:11.82 and ahead of Emma Christianson in 2:19.60, while the trio that won the 100m backstroke medals were Hannah Pearse in 1:05.24, Grace Hudson in 1:05.33 and Bernelee Doster in 1:05.39.
Leigh McMorran won the 400m freestyle event in 4:25.20, ahead of Lise Coetzee in 4:27.84 and Christin Mundell in 4:29.31.
The gold, silver and bronze in the 200m freestyle were claimed by Luca Holtzhausen, Matthew Bosch and Henre Louw in 1:52.16, 1:52.44 and 1:52.73, while the medal podium in the 800m freestyle comprised of Brent Szurdoki, Matthew Caldwell and Aiden Petersen in 8:08.90, 8:26.43 and 8:39.86, respectively.
Brandon Chapman bagged the gold medal in the 100m butterfly, clocking 54.67 to Ethan du Preez’s silver time of 55.03 and Alard Basson’s bronze time of 55.26, while in the 100m breaststroke, the top three spots were claimed by Michael Houlie in 1:00.83, Alaric Basson in 1:01.92 and Michael Deans in 1:03.18.
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Damian Mullen, Ruan Ras and Kian Keylock made up the medal podium in the 400m individual medley in 4:28.29, 4:32.86 and 4:35.84, while the top three places in the 50m backstroke went to Pieter Coetze, Phillip de Lange and Corey Webb in 25.53, 27.20 and 27.61, respectively.
Kobe Ndebele was victorious in the fast-pace 50m freestyle, touching the wall in 23.55 ahead of Clayton Jimmie’s 23.60, while the bronze medal was shared by Gawie Nortje and Jesse van der A in 23.72.
The 200m backstroke saw Martin Binedell walk away with the gold medal in 2:02.59, followed by Liam Vehbi in 2:06.83 and Zimbabwe’s Denilson Cyprianos in 2:06.90.
There was no stopping Alani Ferreira (S13) as she added the 400m freestyle to her Paralympic Qualification list with a new Africa Record time of 4:57.14, while Cornelle Leach (S12) posted a new African Record in the heats of the 100m freestyle with a personal best time of 1:09.54.
In the 100m backstroke heats, Kat Swanepoel (S2) finished with a Paralympic Qualification time of 2:16.94 and followed that performance with a new South African Record in the 100m freestyle in 1:52.77, while Christian Sadie (SB7) celebrated his Paralympic Qualification time of 1:23.72 in the 100m breaststroke. The final teams for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be selected by Sascoc.
On Saturday, Sates won the final of the 200m individual medley in 2:02.74 but it was his fast heats time of 1:57.60 that added him to the Olympic Qualification list, while in a time-trial for the 100m butterfly yesterday, the 17 year old recorded a time of 51.83, to the 51.96 requirement.
Final Paralympic qualifying times:
Cornelle Leach (SB12) – 100m breaststroke – 1:26.24 (heats)
Alani Ferreira (SB13) – 100m breaststroke – 1:24.22 (heats)
Alani Ferreira (S13) – 400m freestyle – 4:57.14 (heats)
Kat Swanepoel (S2) – 50m backstroke – 1:01.01 (heats)
Kat Swanepoel (S2) – 100m backstroke – 2:16.94 (heats)
Christian Sadie (SM7) – 50m butterfly – 31.90 (heats)
Christian Sadie (SB7) – 100m breaststroke – 1:23.72 (heats)
Hendrik van der Merwe (SB5) – 100m breaststroke – 1:44.90 (heats)