Schoenmaker joy at breaking 1:06 barrier on day one of swim champs

Olympic star Tatjana Schoenmaker ensured she was not to be outdone again in the 100m breaststroke, regaining her title on the opening night of the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha on Wednesday ahead of teen rival Lara van Niekerk.

There was a huge sigh of relief for the Olympic silver medallist as she claimed the title in 1:05.89, not because she beat her young opponent, who claimed the title last year, but because she had once again dipped under the 1 min 6 sec mark.

Schoenmaker equalled the second-fastest time in the world this year with Commonwealth Games champion Van Niekerk second in 1:06.74.

“It was never about the title. If I came second or last, for me it was about those personal goals I set for myself,” Schoenmaker said.

“It is challenging to come back from a 1:04.8 [at the Olympics in Tokyo] and then never breaking a 1:06.

“I’ve seen it in training and my times have been looking great but it just didn’t link with my racing so I’m grateful to dip under that and see that my times in training are actually showing.”

On the great depth in South African women’s breaststroke, Schoenmaker said: “I think we have such an amazing breaststroke group — it’s always nice to have world-class swimmers with you in the race.

“We’re also all from NTS [Northern Gauteng] so there’s never a competition where you’re not stepping up against world-class swimmers. I think that’s challenging on the mental side because you’re not always feeling great but then it’s such a good challenge to push yourself every time you swim.”

As they did in the morning heats, both Van Niekerk and Schoenmaker comfortably achieved A qualifying times for the Swimming World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July while third-place Kaylene Corbett’s time of 1:08.57 was a B qualifier.

Another Pretoria star, Pieter Coetzé, provided the highlight in the men’s programme, powering to a new national and continental record in the 100m backstroke.

The 18-year-old’s 52.78 beat the record 52.95 he swam in the semifinals on his way to silver at last year’s World Championships in Peru, and also placed him second-fastest in the world this year.

“To be honest, I didn’t really have any expectations time-wise so I’m shocked and very happy with that because it’s still very early in the season,” he said.

Earlier in the evening, Aimee Canny claimed another A qualifying time in the 200m freestyle after doing so in the morning heats. She swam to victory in 1:57.82, in a race where the top four swimmers all dipped under two minutes.

Duné Coetzee was second in 1:59.05 and Erin Gallagher third in 1:59.50 (both B qualifying times).

“It felt really good this morning. I kind of took all the pressure off myself and I knew I had to do it again tonight. I knew I could do it — especially how easy it felt,” Canny said.

“I definitely went out harder tonight. I felt it at the end but I didn’t die as hard as I probably could have.”

Speaking about the difference that training at the University of Virginia in the USA has made, Canny said: “It’s crazy, training with the level of competition there is insane and I absolutely love it. When I come back it gives me so much confidence to race.”

Several disabled swimmers also achieved qualifying times for the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, England in July  and August.

Amkele Qamarana swam an A qualifier in the SB15 50m breaststroke, powering to a personal best 34.47 in the evening final. Kat Swanepoel achieved her A qualifier in the SB3 50m breaststroke in 58.54 in the heats while Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Christian Sadie swam 1:14.24 to qualify in the S7 100m backstroke.

Nathan Hendrick completed the haul of A qualifiers by swimming a time of 1:03.32 in the S13 100m backstroke.