Pieter Coetzé cruises into 200m backstroke semis at world champs

Pieter Coetzé dished up the third quickest time in the 200m backstroke heats at the world championships in Doha on Thursday morning to book his place in the evening semifinals. 

Coetzé ended second in his heat as he touched in a comfortable 1min 57.90sec, well outside the 1:56.05 best he set winning the world junior crown in 2022.

The 19-year-old, who ended a disappointing fifth in the 100m backstroke final, has admitted he’s still working out the pacing of the longer race and trying to improve his underwater work.

Coetzé was first into the first turn and then dropped back to sixth before moving up slightly to fifth before speeding up on the final lap.

He torpedoed the first 50 metres in 27.38 and then delivered his slowest lap with 30.98 before accelerating to 29.96 and again to 29.58.

The Greek winner of the heat, Apostolos Siskos, was the quickest overall in a 1:56.64 best, clocking more even splits of 27.68, 29.66, 29.73 and 29.57.

Kai van Westering of Netherlands, a bronze medallist at the European U-23 championships last year, was second fastest overall in 1:57.29.

Going into this gala, Coetzé rated the 100m as his best chance for a medal, but he can’t be ruled out in the longer race.

Erin Gallagher was initially two positions short of a spot in the 100m freestyle semifinals after clocking 55.36 in her 100m freestyle heat, where she ended sixth. However, a couple of swimmers scratched from the semifinals, allowing her a backdoor entry into the evening activities.

Gallagher had advanced directly to the 100m butterfly semifinals with an African record, but in the freestyle she was unable to get close to her 54.23 national mark.  

Matthew Randle ended 22nd overall in the 200m breaststroke heats in 2:16.10, more than a second outside his 2:14.40 best.