Pieter Coetzé embarked on his quest for a record-equalling third medal at the world championships in Singapore in convincing fashion on Saturday morning by winning his 50m backstroke heat.
The 21-year-old, who misjudged his pace in the 200m backstroke heats where he only just squeezed into the semifinals in the final 16th spot, made no mistake in the one-lap sprint.
He stormed into the lead soon after the halfway mark and he never looked like surrendering it before touching in 24.36 to match the personal best he had posted in 2023.
His time, just two-100ths of a second off Gerhard Zandberg’s 2009 national record, ranked him second overall heading into the evening semifinals behind Russian Kliment Kolesnikov in 24.08. Kolesnikov holds the 23.55 world record he set in 2023.
Australia’s defending champion Isaac Cooper, whose national mark stands at 24.12, made it through in 14th place in a comfortable 24.80.
A third medal for Coetzé, who has won the 100m backstroke gold and 200m silver, would see him join Roland Schoeman as the only South Africans to win three medals at a single world championships.
Schoeman won the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly golds as well as the 100m freestyle silver at the 2005 edition in Montreal.
Caitlin de Lange finished seventh in her 50m freestyle heat in a 24.95 personal best, which ranked her 18th overall, just two spots and six-100ths of a second short of a place in the evening semifinals.
Kaylene Corbett, the bronze medallist in the 200m breaststroke, won her 50m breaststroke heat in 31.43, but that wasn’t enough to get her through to the semifinals.
The mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team of Matthew Sates, Matthew Caldwell, Olivia Nel and Aimee Canny finished fifth in their heat in 3 min 31.65 sec.
To qualify for the evening final they would have needed to take nearly four seconds off the 3:28.51 national record that was set at the recent World University Games by the student outfit comprising Nel, Guy Brooks, Ruard van Renen and Michaela de Villiers.
Coetzé will race in the 50m backstroke semifinal at 2.07pm on Saturday while Erin Gallagher is set to compete in the women’s 50m butterfly final at 1.02pm.
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