It was a busy night for South Africa’s standout performer at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest, Rebecca Meder, on Friday, lining up in the finals of two events.
Meder’s first final of the evening was the 200m breaststroke, an event which is quickly becoming a favourite for the medley swimmer.
The 22-year-old had earlier booked her spot in the final by finishing second in her morning heat in a time of 2:18.79 to progress as the fourth-fastest qualifier.
She then went even quicker in the evening, finishing fifth in 2:18.26 to edge even closer to Tatjana Smith’s African record of 2:18.02.
The race was won by the American who beat Smith to Olympic gold in the 200m breaststroke in August, Kate Douglass, who powered to a new world record with a speedy 2:12.50.
Meder’s second final of the night, just over an hour later, saw another American shattering a record.
This time it was Gretchen Walsh, who set her sixth individual world record of the meet so far and her second within half an hour, on her way to victory in an impressive 55.11 seconds.
Meder finished sixth in a time of 58.10, slightly off the 57.69-second African record she set in the semifinals on Thursday.
Meanwhile, having missed out on the chance to defend his title in the 200m butterfly on Thursday, Chad le Clos was hoping that the 100m butterfly might provide him another chance, having claimed the double in Melbourne two years ago.
The 32-year-old made it through the morning heats as the 12th fastest qualifier in 50.04 seconds, but his 49.41 for fourth place in his semifinal was not quick enough to book a spot in Saturday night’s final as he finished 11th overall.
100m backstroke finalist Ruard van Renen also competed in the 100m butterfly, finishing 29th overall in the heats in a time of 50.91.
Earlier in the day, Stephanie Houtman set a new African record in the 1500m freestyle after finishing in 16:09.12.
That saw the Pretoria swimmer securing 19th place overall.
Other SA swimmers in action were Matthew Randle, who finished 25th overall in men’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:09.63 and Jaime Mote who was 38th overall in the women’s 100m butterfly after swimming 1:02.27 in the heats.
The South African quartet of Chris Smith, Kris Mihaylov, Caitlin de Lange and Jessica Thompson finished third in their heat of the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay in a time of 1:33.27 but didn’t make it through to the evening final.
© Swimming South Africa