Strong finish by Tatjana Schoenmaker secures 100m silver at world champs

Tatjana Schoenmaker used her superior endurance to snatch the 100m breaststroke silver medal at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan on Tuesday, behind Lithuania’s powerhouse Rūta Meilutytė.

Schoenmaker was fourth into the turn, also trailing both Americans, Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby and world record-holder Lilly King, at the halfway mark.

But South Africa’s Olympic 200m breaststroke queen pushed over the final 15m or so to overhaul her two US rivals.

Meilutytė won in 1min 04.62sec with 26-year-old Schoenmaker touching in 1:05.84, her slowest swim of the gala, having gone 1:05.56 in Monday’s heats and 1:05.53 in the semifinals.

Even Schoenmaker’s 1:04.82 Olympic record wouldn’t have got her to the top of the podium.

Jacoby was third in 1:05.94, just ahead of King in 1:06.02.

“I didn’t expect it,” said Schoenmaker, who finished sixth in this event the last time she competed at the world championships in 2019.

“I don’t train for 100m, I train for 200m so I’m just grateful my speed is there for the 200m.”

Schoenmaker said she had considered skipping the gala because of the tough time she had experienced since the Tokyo Olympics, where she won the 200m breaststroke gold and 100m breaststroke silver.

“I was very indecisive whether I wanted to come. It has been a tough two years for me, so I’ve been swimming my fastest times since Olympics, not my [personal bests] yet, but slowly getting there.

“I’m here to race some of the best. I didn’t come here with any expectation.”

Schoenmaker pointed out that the results this year would have no bearing on what happens at the Paris Olympics next year. 

Proving her point was the medal miss by compatriot Lara van Niekerk, the Commonwealth Games champion in this event last year.

The 1:05.47 Van Niekerk swam at Birmingham 2022 would have got her to the podium in Japan, where she failed to advance beyond the heats.

Van Niekerk was only the second South African woman to win a world championship medal in long-course competition — swum in an Olympic-sized 50m pool — when she took the 50m breaststroke bronze in Budapest last year.

Schoenmaker was the country’s first, winning silver in the 200m breaststroke in 2019.

She will turn her attention to her premier 200m breaststroke event in the heats on Thursday, which marks a year to go to the 2024 Games.

In other action, Michael Houlie was the only one to advance out of heats on Tuesday, going 27.31 in the morning session of the 50m breaststroke and then slowing to 27.57 in the evening semifinals.

Aimee Canny’s 1:59.30 in the 200m freestyle heats was more than a second behind the slowest qualifier for the semifinals.

Righardt Muller ended second in his 800m freestyle heat in 8:07.08.

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