Tatjana Schoenmaker makes more history as she bags first world title

Tatjana Schoenmaker landed the first world title of her illustrious career, delivering class and grit as she finished first in the 200m breaststroke in Fukuoka on Friday.

The 26-year-old held her form as she took the lead at the halfway mark and slowly edged away from her rivals to win in 2min 20.80sec, her fastest time since winning Olympic gold two years ago.

American Kate Douglas was second in 2:21.23 and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands third in 2:21.63. Lilly King of the US, the defending world champion, had to settle for her second fourth place of the world championships, in 2:22.25.

This was the first world championship gold of Schoenmaker’s career. She had crowns from the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Student Games and continental galas, but never from a world championships.

“I really just went into the race just [to have] fun racing. We’re racing some of the world’s best,” said Schoenmaker, who has travelled a difficult road since her triumph at Tokyo 2020.

“Coming from the Olympics, it was a tough two years so I’m just grateful that I was able to have the opportunity to race some of these girls.”

Schoenmaker became the first South African woman to win a world championship medal in long-course competition in 2019 when she took the 200m breaststroke silver, but now she is the country’s first female world champion. 

Lara van Niekerk, the only other woman to take a medal, the 50m breaststroke bronze in 2022, is set to return to action on Saturday. 

Roland Schoeman, the only other South African in action on Friday, ended fifth in his 50m freestyle heat, clocking 22.87 which ranked him 50th overall, well outside the top 16 that advanced to the semifinals.

But it was a trip down memory lane for the 43-year-old, who won South Africa’s first-ever long-course world championship medal in this Japanese city in 2001, a 50m freestyle bronze.

On Friday the qualifying times ranged from 21.35 to 22.05.

Twenty-two years ago they were 22.18 to 22.76. Then Schoeman advanced out of the heats with a 22.39, the fourth-best time of the morning and ended up sharing third spot with Japan’s Tomohiro Yamanoi in 22.18.

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