Matthew Sates strikes like Greece lightning to win double gold

Matthew Sates forged two gold medals at the World Cup meet in Athens on Saturday night, finishing first in the 200m individual medley and again in the 200m butterfly.

His friend and training partner Pieter Coetzé had to settle for silver in the men’s 50m backstroke after getting off to a slow start, finishing behind American Michael Andrew, whose parents are former South Africans.

Andrew, leading the men’s rankings in the series so far, touched first in 24.79 with Coetzé just one-tenth of a second behind and Australian Isaac Cooper just one-hundredth of a second further back.

“It’s always fun to do the 50s, see how fast you can go,” said Coetzé, who returns to Pretoria after this leg of the World Cup series to prepare for his matric final exams.

“You have to get everything perfect. It didn’t work out tonight, but it’s fun,” added the 19-year-old, who later competed in the 100m freestyle, ending eighth.

Coetzé, who won the 200m backstroke on Friday night and is scheduled to race the 100m on Sunday, had been scheduled to compete in the opening leg of the series in Berlin last weekend, but didn’t go because he was ill.

Sates took control of the 200m IM in the third breaststroke leg after lying fourth after the butterfly and backstroke legs, moving like Greece lightning as he clocked 34.06, more than a second quicker than the next fastest competitor.

After that he had no trouble holding his lead over the final breaststroke leg to touch first in 1min 58.86sec, in front of American Kieran Smith, a 400m freestyle Olympic bronze medallist, in 1:59.56. 

“It [the breaststroke] is definitely is one of my strengths, but my backstroke is weaker than theirs.”

But the butterfly is another strength, and he was too powerful for the field in the 200m butterfly, delivering another strong showing over the second half.

Sates was third at the halfway mark, but then he surged ahead and raced to the front, stretching his lead as he went on before touching in 1:55.44, winning by more than a second.

“It hurt,” Sates, who won the 100m butterfly on Friday, admitted. “Definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

Johnathan Els, who trains with Wayne Riddin in Pietermaritzburg, was the only other South African in a final, finishing sixth behind Sates in the 200m butterfly.

The series concludes in Budapest next weekend, where Sates, a series winner in 2021, will have a chance to try climb his way up the standings from fourth place.