Games history

Olympic Blasts!: Chad le Clos reclaims 200m butterfly world championship crown

Today in Olympic history: July 26

25 July 2024 - 22:00
By David Isaacson
Chad le Clos in the men's 100m butterfly at the SA Championships, Newton Park pool, Gqberha, on April 15 2023.
Image: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images MEDAL MACHINE Chad le Clos in the men's 100m butterfly at the SA Championships, Newton Park pool, Gqberha, on April 15 2023.

2005 — Ryk Neethling wins world championship bronze in the 200m freestyle in Montreal. For Neethling, who had focused on longer distances from 1,500m freestyle down to 400m until switching to the 100m after the 2000 Olympics, this was his best result in the 200m.

2017 — Chad le Clos reclaims his 200m butterfly world championship crown as he downs home favourite and defending champion Laszlo Cseh in the final in Budapest. Le Clos, the champion in 2013, won in 1 min 53.33 sec, ahead of Cseh in 1:53.72 and Daiya Seto of Japan in 1:54.21. On the same night Cameron van der Burgh won the last of his 10 career world championship medals, finishing third in the 50m breaststroke behind Briton Adam Peaty and Brazilian Joao Gomes Junior. Van der Burgh touched in 26.60, with Peaty first in 25.99.

2019 — Tatjana Schoenmaker becomes the first South African woman to win a medal at a world long-course (50m pool) championship when she takes silver in the 200m breaststroke in Gwangju, South Korea. Schoenmaker, who clocked a 2 min 21.79 sec African record in the semifinals the previous evening, went 2:22.52 in the final, more than two seconds behind Russian winner Yuliya Efimova. Schoenmaker’s Tuks teammate Kaylene Corbett was eighth.