Chad le Clos became the first swimmer in history to scoop the butterfly triple at the world short-course championships after he won the 200m race in Doha last night.
What made the victory doubly sweet is that he exacted revenge on Japanese rival Daiya Seto, who had won their previous encounter in Perth at the beginning of the year.
Seto had also posted the fastest time of the heats, cracking a 1min 50.82sec championship record in the morning, and in the final he overhauled the South African in the second half of the race.
But that's when Le Clos's killer instinct kicked in, and he pushed ahead on the final lap to touch first in 1:48.61, a mere five-hundredths of a second off his own world record.
Seto was second in 1:48.92.
This was the fourth gold medal of the meet for Le Clos, who also stole a win in the 200m freestyle, but he will be remembered for his butterfly feat.
The triple once seemed an impossible task because it required a swimmer to possess endurance and still be able to sprint; it's like a Kenyan middle-distance runner beating Usain Bolt over 100m.
Le Clos has always had endurance, but now he's been getting faster in the shorter races.
His mastery of the turn and underwater swimming are major assets in short-course galas, staged in 25m pools.
Cameron van der Burgh, who was fourth in the 100m breaststroke, shared silver in the 50m breaststroke with England's Adam Peaty in 25.87.
Van der Burgh, who failed to get off to his usual fast start, cracked a smile afterwards.
Team South Africa might feel happy with their four golds and single silver from this championship, but there should be concern that this is still the Chad-and-Cameron show.
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