South Africa suffered a setback at the world swimming championships in Gwangju on Friday morning when medal hope Brad Tandy crashed out of the 50-metres freestyle.
The US-based sprint specialist‚ who ended tied for sixth at the 2016 Rio Olympics‚ was fifth in his heat in 22.24sec to miss out on a top-16 semifinal berth by just four-hundredths of a second.
“I guess you’ve just got to learn‚” said Tandy‚ who had produced two faster times in galas earlier in the year for a world ranking of 13.
“Morning swims are always hard — I’ve been waiting 10 days now to race. It’s been a long one. Obviously not too happy with the swim‚ I wanted to make it through at least.”
Chad Le Clos once again played second fiddle to Hungarian teen Kristof Milak‚ finishing behind him in their 100m butterfly heat.
Le Clos‚ dethroned by Milak in the 200m ’fly‚ was fourth overall as he clocked 51.58 behind the 19-year-old in 51.58.
Defending champion Caeleb Dressel of the US produced the fastest swim of the morning‚ going 50.28 ahead of Russia’s Andrei Minakov in 51.24.
Le Clos will face Milak again in the first semifinal on Friday night.
Le Clos’s SA teammate Ryan Coetzee managed only 53.46‚ well outside his 51.85 personal best from earlier this year that would have seen him easily advance into the evening swim-offs.
The biggest casualty of the morning saw Singapore’s Olympic 100m ’fly champion‚ Joseph Schooling‚ fail to advance‚ ending 24th overall in 52.93.
In other SA action‚ Dune Coetzee posted an 8min 47.97sec personal best in the women’s 800m freestyle‚ placing her sixth in her heat and 24th overall.
Erin Gallagher was 19th overall in the women’s 50m butterfly in 26.45‚ well outside her 26.30 from the SA championships‚ which would have sneaked her into the semifinals.
Nathania van Niekerk ended 26th overall in the women’s 200m backstroke‚ her 2:13.37 being exactly two seconds slower than her time at the national championships.
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