Pieter Coetzé will have one last shot at adding to his already impressive medal haul at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore after winning his 50m backstroke semifinal on Saturday.
The 21-year-old who already has 100m backstroke gold and 200m backstroke silver in the bag will line up for the final of the 50m event on Sunday.
Coetzé blasted to victory in his semifinal in a time of 24.32 seconds to qualify third fastest for the final behind world record-holder Kliment Kolesnikov (24.16) and Pavel Samusenko (24.31). That saw him breaking former world champion Gerhard Zandberg’s long-standing South African and African record, set in Rome 16 years ago.
Explaining afterwards that he had lost his athlete accreditation pass to enter the pool for the evening session, Coetzé said he was pleased that the delay hadn’t affected him during the race.
“I had to wait in front for a little bit. But I think I’m very proud of myself for staying focused and not letting it get to me. And to swim a personal best is awesome,” he said.
As for breaking Zandberg’s record, the Pretoria swimmer added: “This record has been coming a long time, so I think it’s amazing. I’m really happy to break it… It’s an honour to break it and hopefully I can take down some more time off it.”
Zandberg is one of two South Africans to have won the world title in the 50m backstroke. He achieved the feat in 2007 while Zane Waddell took the same title in 2019.
Speaking about Sunday’s final, Coetzé reckoned: “I’m so glad the 200 [backstroke] is out of the way. This race is so easy compared to the 200. So I’m super-excited. I love going fast. I love going maximum speed over one length, it’s always fun.”
Meanwhile, Erin Gallagher wrapped up her individual events at these championships with an eighth place in the 50m butterfly final. The 26-year-old was disappointed to have gone slower than her semifinal time, finishing in 25.66 seconds.
American Gretchen Walsh took the gold in 24.83 seconds with Australian Alexandria Perkins second in 25.31 and Belgian Roos Vanotterdijk claiming bronze in 25.43 seconds.
“Honestly, I was feeling really good, feeling really confident. I obviously knew I had a chance at medalling and I really felt it,” said Gallagher after the race. “But in swimming, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It’s one of the most frustrating sports in the world, but you know what, what can you do? It’s done now. There’s nothing I can change, I can’t go back, so I’ve just got to keep going forward, I guess.”
Gallagher’s national record time of 25.39 seconds in the semifinal a day earlier would have earned her a spot on the podium on Saturday.
“It would have placed me third, which is really hard; it’s a big pill to swallow. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter about times, it comes down to the race,” she said.
“Last night was obviously my night, and I just couldn’t replicate it tonight, which is hard and tough to accept, but I’ve got to take it on the chin and do better next time.”
Earlier in the day, 200m breaststroke bronze medallist Kaylene Corbett won her 50m breaststroke heat, but her time of 31.43 seconds was not quick enough to see her through to the semifinals after finishing 27th overall.
Cailtin de Lange swam a personal best time of 24.95 seconds in the 50m freestyle to finish seventh in her heat and 18th overall, just missing out on the semifinals, and the SA quartet of Matt Sates, Matthew Caldwell, Olivia Nel and Aimee Canny were 19th overall in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.
The final day of competition in Singapore on Sunday will see Sates lining up for the 400m individual medley, while the SA women’s 4x100m medley relay team will also be in action before Coetzé’s 50m backstroke final in the evening session.