A tired Pieter Coetzé was still too strong as he won the men’s 50m freestyle to land his fifth title at the South African championships in Gqeberha on Saturday night.
The 19-year-old touched first in 22.45, ahead of Clayton Jimmie in 22.83 and Guy Brooks in 23.00.
Roland Schoeman, the 43-year-old former triple medallist from Athens 2004, was fourth in 23.07.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that [beating Schoeman],” said Coetzé, who first downed the veteran in this event two years ago.
“I was thinking before the race, it's actually crazy,” said Coetzé, who also beat Chad Le Clos while winning the 100m freestyle earlier in the gala.
“Like 10-year-old me would be absolutely shocked that I've just beaten Chad and Roland in one meet ... I'm just grateful for the opportunity to even race against these guys.”
He had hoped to possibly bag the 21.97 Olympic qualifying time in this event, but his exertions earlier in the week had taken their toll.
“I was really feeling tired before [the final]. I was sitting in the ready room yawning, but I’m just glad to get the win tonight.”
His housemate in Pretoria, Matthew Sates, won the men’s 200m individual medley in 1min 59.98sec for his fourth crown of the gala, meaning nine of the 14 individual titles will be sitting in one home for the year.
Aimee Canny won the women’s 200m IM in 2:12.23, beating breaststroke queen Tatjana Smith (2:13.88) into second place.
Erin Gallagher won the women’s 50m freestyle in 24.95, edging favourite Caitlin de Lange by one-hundredth of a second.
Stephanie Houtman won the women’s 1,500m freestyle in 16:41.20 and Kris Mihaylov won the men’s 800m freestyle in 8:09.51.
Coetzé, Smith, Canny, Gallagher and Kaylene Corbett were the only swimmers to achieve Olympic qualifying times during the gala.
To date nine swimmers have achieved times since the qualifying window opened in March last year.
More will try to join Coetzé, Sates, Chad Le Clos, Smith, Canny, Gallagher, Corbett, Rebecca Meder and Lara van Niekerk before the window closes on June 23.
Swimming
Tired Pieter Coetzé finishes off Olympic trials with five titles
Image: Anton Geyser
A tired Pieter Coetzé was still too strong as he won the men’s 50m freestyle to land his fifth title at the South African championships in Gqeberha on Saturday night.
The 19-year-old touched first in 22.45, ahead of Clayton Jimmie in 22.83 and Guy Brooks in 23.00.
Roland Schoeman, the 43-year-old former triple medallist from Athens 2004, was fourth in 23.07.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that [beating Schoeman],” said Coetzé, who first downed the veteran in this event two years ago.
“I was thinking before the race, it's actually crazy,” said Coetzé, who also beat Chad Le Clos while winning the 100m freestyle earlier in the gala.
“Like 10-year-old me would be absolutely shocked that I've just beaten Chad and Roland in one meet ... I'm just grateful for the opportunity to even race against these guys.”
He had hoped to possibly bag the 21.97 Olympic qualifying time in this event, but his exertions earlier in the week had taken their toll.
“I was really feeling tired before [the final]. I was sitting in the ready room yawning, but I’m just glad to get the win tonight.”
His housemate in Pretoria, Matthew Sates, won the men’s 200m individual medley in 1min 59.98sec for his fourth crown of the gala, meaning nine of the 14 individual titles will be sitting in one home for the year.
Aimee Canny won the women’s 200m IM in 2:12.23, beating breaststroke queen Tatjana Smith (2:13.88) into second place.
Erin Gallagher won the women’s 50m freestyle in 24.95, edging favourite Caitlin de Lange by one-hundredth of a second.
Stephanie Houtman won the women’s 1,500m freestyle in 16:41.20 and Kris Mihaylov won the men’s 800m freestyle in 8:09.51.
Coetzé, Smith, Canny, Gallagher and Kaylene Corbett were the only swimmers to achieve Olympic qualifying times during the gala.
To date nine swimmers have achieved times since the qualifying window opened in March last year.
More will try to join Coetzé, Sates, Chad Le Clos, Smith, Canny, Gallagher, Corbett, Rebecca Meder and Lara van Niekerk before the window closes on June 23.
READ MORE
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