Roland outshines young guns

Roland Schoeman proved at the national aquatic championships that there are still lots of kick in his legs when he emerged as the fastest man in the 100m freestyle for a second year in a row.

It was the young guns Graeme Moore and Gideon Louw who set the pace in the semi-final and beat the qualifying time for the Fina World Championships, but Schoeman had the last say in yesterday’s final.

Schoeman as usual got off to a flying start and was first to turn.

Louw was pushing hard to win but it was the 30 year old Schoeman who touched first in 49.40 with Louw a close second in 49.48.

Moore, who was the fastest swimmer in the heats and semi-final, finished fourth in 49.78 with Leith Shankland beating him to the touch with 49.65.

“I am very happy that I won, but shocked at the time as I expected it to be faster,” said Schoeman afterwards.

The depth of South African swimming in the long distance freestyle was underlined when the first five swimmers qualified for the World Championships. Heerden Herman won in 7:58.07 with Mark Randall second in 7:59.94. Only the first two swimmers will travel to Shanghai.

Vanessa Mohr and Karin Prinsloo, who had earlier come so close to the qualifying times, finally achieved success on the fourth night of the championships.

A very excited Mohr swam a fast 58.93 in the 100 butterfly, coming very close to Lize-Mari Retief’s South African record of 58.20. She booked her ticket to Shanghai after failing to do so in the final of the 50 butterfly.

“I am intensely excited, as this will be my first international championships where I will be competing. This is the beginning for me but my ultimate goal is obviously the Olympic Games,” said the sixteen year old swimmer.

Prinsloo followed with a qualifying time in the 50 backstroke where she won gold in 29.03.

Riaan Schoeman swam a perfect race in the 400 individual medley to qualify for the world championships. He won gold in 4:16.29, beating upcoming start Chad le Clos who finished 4:18.67.

“I took a two months vacation so I did not swim much. But it is good to be back, as I am using the world championships as preparation for the Olympics. Chad is just such a great competitor which is good competition and good for swimming in South Africa,” said Schoeman.

Wendy Trott once again swam alone in the 800 freestyle winning in 8:30.66 and beating Roxanne Tammadge almost by five seconds.

Cameron van der Burgh, triple world champion in the breaststroke, is on course to win his second medal in the 50 breaststroke after he swam the fastest time of 27.59 in the semi-final beating the qualifying time once again. He will be pushed in the final by Neil Versfeld who was a close second in 27.95.