Pieter Coetzé sneaks into his second final of the Doha world champs

Pieter Coetzé squeezed into the 200m backstroke final at the world championships in Doha after a tough semifinal battle where he took the last qualifying spot on Thursday night.

The 19-year-old went out quicker than normal and ended fifth in his semifinal, but his effort of 1 min 57.07 sec was enough to see him into the final on Friday.

Coetzé threw away a likely medal in his favourite 100m backstroke earlier in the gala, but he has a shot in the 200m as well.

American Jack Aikens was the fastest on the night in 1:56.32, and while everyone is likely to go faster, if Coetzé can get close to his 1:56.05 best it could be enough.

His two biggest challenges are his underwater work coming out the turns and pacing himself over four laps.

Coetzé went out 26.91 in the first 50m of the semifinal compared to 27.38 in the morning.

“I tried something new tonight by going out a little bit faster than usual and I definitely paid the price for that in the second [half of the race]. So definitely learning every time.

“Maybe my first 50 needs to be a little bit slower because I think I went out a bit hard tonight.” 

Erin Gallagher took advantage of a lifeline that allowed her to get into the semifinals of the 100m freestyle after initially missing out in the morning heats.

Gallagher had ended 18th overall after managing only 55.36 in the morning, leaving her two spots short of the top-16.

However, some scratchings by rival swimmers saw her being drafted into the evening action and she grabbed it with both hands, delivering the sixth-fastest time of her career with a 54.53 sec, not too far off her 54.23 continental record.

Gallagher ended sixth in her semifinal and 11th overall. The slowest qualifying time was 54.07 while Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands set the pace at 52.53.

“This morning was a very rough swim. I think I cried in my warm-up knowing it was going to be a tough swim,” said Gallagher, who competes in the 50m butterfly on Friday.

“I’m grateful I was given a second chance to swim and improve my time. I learnt a lot of lessons so I’m happy.”