Swimming

'Peter Pan' Chad Le Clos winds back the clock to win 100m freestyle crown

14 April 2023 - 19:31 By SPORT STAFF
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Chad Le Clos in action at the 2021 SA championships in Gqeberha.
Chad Le Clos in action at the 2021 SA championships in Gqeberha.
Image: Deryck Foster/BackpagePix

Call him Peter Pan of the pool. Veteran Chad Le Clos downed the young guns to take the South African 100m freestyle crown in Gqeberha on Friday night, clocking almost the same time he swam to win the same title in the same pool a decade ago.

Le Clos, who turned 31 earlier in the week, delivered one of his trademark underwater attacks at the turn to shoot into a lead that he never surrendered, holding on to win in 48.97 sec.

Ten years ago at the same Newton Park pool Le Clos swam 48.95 to win this title for the first time, but the competition this time around was much tighter.

“I knew it was going to be a tough one with Pieter [Coetzé] and Matt [Sates],” said Le Clos. “I’m happy with the win.”

Pretoria schoolboy Coetzé, a backstroke specialist and defending 50m freestyle champion from last year, finished second in 49.19, one-hundredth of a second in front of third-placed Matthew Sates, the defending champion.

Sates, whose winning time last year was 48.97, went on to win the 400m individual medley in 4 min 22.26 sec.

Olympic queen Tatjana Schoenmaker retained her 200m breaststroke title as she touched the wall in 2:22.44, slightly faster than her effort in the morning.

Stablemate Kaylene Corbett, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and 2020 Tokyo Olympic finalist, was second in 2:25.40. The two were the only swimmers on the day to achieve A-qualifying times for the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July.

“2:22 is good for where we are [in training],” said Schoenmaker.

In the women’s 100m freestyle Aimee Canny put her foot down on the second lap to win the 100m freestyle in 54.65, holding off Rebecca Meder who finished second in 54.88 before taking the 400m IM in 4:50.55.

“I was pretty happy with that,” said Canny, a student at the University of Virginia. “Obviously I would have liked to have gone faster to make the A cut.”

Matthew Randle took the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:14.40.

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