Pietermaritzburg swimming sensation Matthew Sates is heading to Hungary with fellow South Africans on a high note after boosting his medal count in the World Cup series.
The former St Charles College pupil picked up three golds and one silver at the weekend in Athens, Greece, to go with the two golds and one silver he collected in the opening leg of the lucrative series in Germany the previous weekend.
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Greece was hosting its maiden World Cup event, and Sates won the 100 m butterfly in 51,82 seconds, the 200 m medley in 1:58,86 and 200 m butterfly in 1:55,44.
The 20-year-old athlete claimed a silver in the 400 m medley in 4:13,38, with the win going to Japan’s Kaito Tabuchi in 4:13,30 and a distant third place to Australia’s Brendon Smith in 4:18,18.
His stellar efforts came despite a wrist problem.
Another young South African star, Pieter Coetze, won gold in the men’s 200 m backstroke in 1:56,32 in Athens, ahead of Thomas Ceccon of Italy (1:56,49) and Roman Mityukov of Switzerland (157,16).
Coetze also claimed silver medals in the 50 m backstroke and 100 m backstroke.
In the 50m “back”, he clocked 24,89 seconds to American Michael Andrew’s 24,79.
The other race saw Coetze register 53,49 to the 52,73 of Italian rival Ceccon.
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The South African group are now moving to the Hungarian capital of Budapest for the final leg of the series this weekend.
They have 10 medals altogether — six golds, four silvers — all through the fine work of Sates and Coetze.