Chad le Clos bagged his third consecutive world 100m butterfly short-course crown in Canada on Thursday night‚ smashing his own world record in the process.
The four-time Olympic medallist‚ so far the only South African to have won a medal at this gala‚ had powered into a lead of nearly half-a-second at the 50m mark‚ and at the finish was 0.96sec ahead of his nearest rival‚ Tom Shields of the US.
Le Clos clocked 48.08 to cut a chunk out of the 48.44 world record he had posted at the previous world short-course championships in Doha two years ago.
At the 2012 edition in Istanbul‚ he won in 48.82.
Le Clos‚ part of a three-way share of silver in this event at the Rio Games‚ is again looking to make a fullhouse of the three world short-course butterfly titles when he competes in the 50m ’fly on Friday. The final is set for Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time).
So far he has picked up two golds‚ the other being in the 200m butterfly‚ and a silver in the 200m freestyle.
Olympian Doug Erasmus was the only other South African in action in the evening session‚ after clocking the second-fastest time in the morning heats of the 50m freestyle.
His 21.31 was just four-hundredths of a second behind pace-setter Vladimir Morozov of Russia‚ but he went nearly half-a-second slower in the semifinals‚ his 21.71 making him the slowest of the 16 competitors.
His morning time would have got him into Friday’s final.
Brad Tandy failed to get beyond the 50m freestyle heats on Thursday morning‚ finishing fifth in his heat in 21.79‚ which ranked him 21st overall.
That was the identical time he swam in the Rio final‚ but short-course swimming over 25-metre laps is supposed to be quicker than in Olympic-sized 50m pools.
South Africa’s only other medal hopes‚ Cameron van der Burgh and Giulio Zorzi‚ return to action in the 50m breaststroke on Saturday. - TMG Digital
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