Le Clos beaten, but it's no train smash for SA star

09 October 2016 - 04:37 By DAVID ISAACSON

Chad le Clos was handed his first 200m butterfly defeat of the 2016 World Cup series after he mistimed his finish in Doha last night. Le Clos made amends later, taking the 50m 'fly to secure one of two gold medals for South Africa on the night, his 22.36sec winning time not too far off his 22.06 world lead.Fellow Olympian Myles Brown won the 400m freestyle by more than two seconds ahead of James Guy of England, a silver medallist in this event at the 2015 world championships.In his sixth start of the series in the 200m 'fly, Le Clos was unable to produce his trademark surge and finished nine-hundredths of a second behind Japanese star Daiya Seto, whose 1min 49.84sec was the second-slowest winning time.This was the same event in which the South African suffered disappointment at the Rio Games, ending fourth in his Olympic rematch with Michael Phelps.But last night's result was hardly a train smash.Le Clos was unshaved and there's no disgrace losing to Seto, an accomplished medley swimmer.Le Clos might have also been a little tired after racing in the 100m freestyle earlier in the evening, finishing second behind rampant Russian torpedo Vladimir Morozov, the top-ranked male swimmer of this short-course series which has three more legs to go.Le Clos is lying second overall.Four South Africans competed in the men's 50m breaststroke final, but only Giulio Zorzi made the podium, clinching silver behind Brazil's Felipe Lima, the winner in 26.14.Roland Schoeman (26.79) and Brad Tandy (26.95) ended fourth and fifth while Jan Bezuidenhout was eighth.Zorzi, whose time was 26.47, won bronze in the breaststroke sprint behind training partner Cameron van der Burgh at the 2013 world championships...

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