Silver lining for Gallagher on great night for SA

Erin Gallagher bounced back from a disappointing start to her Commonwealth Games campaign by clinching a silver medal in the 50m butterfly in Birmingham on Monday night.

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It was one of two silver medals for Team SA on the night as Pieter Coetzé secured second place in the 50m backstroke, while Para-swimmer Christian Sadie took bronze in the S7 freestyle.

Gallagher was devastated to miss out on the 100m butterfly final last week but the next day talked about how her love of racing was slowly returning. On Monday, there was a literal silver lining as the 23-year-old who moved from Durban to Pretoria to train at Tuks last year, stormed to a joint silver medal with Australian Holly Barratt in a new SA record time of 26.05. Multiple Olympic champion Emma McKeon took the gold in 25.90.

“I couldn’t be happier with that swim… it’s been an emotional rollercoaster this week. I’ve had some highs and some real lows and lots of questions about what I’m doing and whether I’m going forward, as everyone does in life,” she admitted after the race.

“But the team energy has been amazing and my teammates mean the absolute world to me and they’ve definitely turned it around.”

Speaking about the race itself, Gallagher reckoned: “I think the last few metres my eyes were closed. I can’t even remember the race to be honest. I put my head down and hoped for the best and I took a while to turn around and look at the time because I was nervous but when I saw the two there, I couldn’t believe it. I was so shocked.”

As for the fact that SA’s women are leading the way in terms of the team’s medal count, she added: “It’s been insane. I’m so proud of the women because over the years, women in South Africa particularly in swimming have got a lock of flak and I’m so honoured and proud to be part of a team where we support each other – obviously there’s rivalry within the race – but out of the pool we’re the best of friends and we always encourage each other. That’s the part that I love about this sport.”

Not quite as thrilled with his silver medal was Coetzé, who was hoping for a clean sweep of the backstroke golds in Birmingham, after claiming victory in the 100m backstroke on Saturday. He was just beaten to gold by .12 of a second by New Zealander Andrew Jeffcoat, who claimed the win in 24.65.

“I’m a little bit disappointed but I’m still happy to get the medal and it’s always fun to race – especially with the crowd and everything,” said the 18-year-old star.

“It was very close. It would have been nice to get the touch but that happens… I know my starts and turns are something I still have to work on, so I was expecting to be a bit down at the start and I had to come from behind again, but I think I did a good job of that.

“The finish is something I’ve been working on because I knew it was going to be tight, so every time I do a finish in training I try to do a little arm bend and get the touch,” he explained. “It worked in the 100 but unfortunately not tonight.”

Another swimmer whose race also didn’t quite go according to plan was Sadie, who finished third in the S7 50m freestyle in 29.78 as Australian Matt Levy took gold in 28.95, Singapore’s Wei Soong Toh earned the silver in 29.10.

“I’m really chuffed to be on the podium. It was really nice racing with the guys. I think it’s the same podium as last time. The swim wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be, but I’m happy.

“It was the plan to go out hard but I’m not actually sure what went wrong after that. I’ll have a look at the replay and see but for now I’m looking forward to some pizza and burgers,” he quipped afterwards.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Meder also broke a national record on her way to fourth place in the 200m individual medley final. She took over half a second off Kathryn Meaklim’s previous record set 13 years ago, finishing in 2:12.01.

“I didn’t really think about the record while I was racing, I just swam my own race. A bronze would have been amazing, but I came in ranked 10th or 11th and I just finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games. I’m so happy with that time,” she said.

Several more medals should up for grabs on Tuesday night as Chad le Clos, Tatjana Schoenmaker, Lara van Niekerk, Kaylene Corbett, Michael Houlie and Aimee Canny all progressed through their respective semifinals.

Rallying from his disappointment of missing out on a fourth consecutive gold in the 200m butterfly final on Sunday, Le Clos was full of fighting talk ahead of the 100m event after winning his semifinal in 51.64 to go through as the second quickest qualifier.

“I’m over the moon, I’ve got a great lane draw, right next to the fastest guy Matt [Temple] – he’s going to be a big threat tomorrow night… Another medal would be great, but you know what [colour] I want,” said Le Clos.

“It was good to get my hand on the wall first, finally, even though it was just a semifinal. Tomorrow night is going to be a dogfight and I’m ready to go.”

The women’s 100m breaststroke final will again feature three South Africans. Van Niekerk beat Olympic silver medallist in the event, Schoenmaker, to the national title earlier this year and will be gunning for her second gold of the Games after qualifying quickest on Monday.

“I love racing with Tatjana – she’s such an amazing person and having Kaylene as well, it’s going to be all the South Africans again and I just love that,” she said after winning her semifinal in a speedy 1:05.96.