Pieter Coetzé notched up his second world qualifying time at the national trials in Gqeberha on Thursday morning, but others such as Matthew Sates, Ruard van Renen and Rebecca Meder will take their shots later in the evening session.
Coetzé stormed to victory in the 50m backstroke — which has been added to the Olympic roster for Los Angeles 2028 — in 24.56sec, well inside the 25.11 mark for automatic entry to the global showpiece in Singapore from July to August.
Coetzé is the only swimmer to have qualified so far, having done so first in the 100m backstroke on Wednesday.
Ruard van Renen was second-quickest in 25.52
Sates set himself up for two qualifying opportunities as he cruised through the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly heats. Sates was only third fastest in the 200m IM, winning his heat in 2min 06.02 sec. Cameron Casali was quickest overall in 2:05.02 with Kian Keylock going 2:05.77.
But not long afterwards Sates was back in action in the 200m butterfly, where he posted the second-fastest time, going 2:04.69 to win his heat.
The quickest was 17-year-old Kris Mihaylov in 2:03.28.
The Singapore standards in these two events are 1:59.05 and 1:56.51 respectively.
Rebecca Meder was the quickest in the women’s 200m IM, clocking 2min 13.65sec in the morning heats, within a second of the 2:12.83 mark she needs to qualify for the world championships. Meder, an Olympic semifinalist in this event at Paris 2024 where she set her 2:10.67 national record, should reach that mark in the evening session.
Next best in the heats was Aimee Canny in 2:21.29.
Dune Coetzee, winner of the 200m freestyle on Wednesday, was quickest in the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:18.10. The 2:09.21 she needs to book a world championship berth is lower than her 2:10.89 personal best from 2019.
Jessica Thompson was the quickest in the women’s 50m backstroke, touching in 28.39, only a fraction faster than Olivia Nel in 28.41. Getting to 28.22 will get them to Singapore.
Organisers have confirmed the 50m breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke have been added to the Olympic roster for Los Angeles 2028.
Swimming South Africa has previously given no weight to performances in the three 50m events on the basis that they were not in the Olympic line-up.
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