Tatjana Smith shows her speed with world-class 100m breaststroke swim

Tatjana Smith delivered another master class at the national championships in Gqeberha on Friday morning as she clocked the second-fastest 100m breaststroke time in the world so far this year.

Smith, the new No 1 in the 200m breaststroke, sped across the Newton Park pool in the heats to touch in 1min 05.64sec, which places her behind only China’s Qianting Tang, the world leader on 1:05.27.

Smith could challenge that if she chooses to push harder in the evening final but she has reclaimed her spot as the fastest South African in a local pool, overtaking the 1:05.67 Lara van Niekerk posted at this gala two years ago.

The 1:04.82 Olympic record she set at Tokyo 2020 already ranks her the fifth-fastest 100m breaststroker in history and her effort on Friday is the quickest she’s been since Japan.

Van Niekerk, still struggling to find her form, won her heat in 1:07.64, the second-fastest time of the morning, still short of the 1:06.79 qualifying time for the Paris Olympics later this year.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games champion dipped under the standard twice last year, soon after the qualifying window opened in March last year, and should be safe for selection.

Emma Chelius missed the 50m freestyle qualifier in a time trial, going 25.45. But she gets more chances to book her spot when racing the event on Saturday.

The other stars in action in the morning took it easier.

Matthew Sates was the quickest in the men’s 100m butterfly heats, going 53.44 to take pole position from Chad le Clos, celebrating his 32nd birthday, in 53.52.

Erin Gallagher was the quickest in the women’s 100m butterfly heats in 1:00.22 and Matthew Randle set the pace in the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:02.01.

Christian Sadie (SM7) and Nathan Hendricks (SM13) both swam Paralympic qualifying times in the men’s 200m individual medley, clocking 2:38.45 and 2:18.19 respectively.