Durban – South African swimmers Tatjana Schoenmaker and Lara van Niekerk have achieved qualifying times for the Swimming World Championships that will be in Fukuoka, Japan in July.
The two comfortably did this at the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha which runs until Sunday, 16 April.
Third-place Kaylene Corbett’s time of 1:08.57 was a B qualifier for the Swimming World Championships.
On Wednesday’s opening night of the competition Olympic medalist, Schoenmaker ensured she was not to be outdone again in the 100m breaststroke, regaining her national title and finishing ahead of teen rival and Commonwealth Games champion Van Niekerk.
Schoenmaker’s victory came in 1:05.89 to equal the second-fastest time in the world this year with Van Niekerk second in 1:06.74.
“It was never about the title. If I came second or last – for me it was about those personal goals that I set for myself,” said a thrilled Schoenmaker afterwards.
“It is challenging to come back from a 1:04.8 [at the Olympics in Tokyo] and then never breaking a 1:06 so it was really tough. I have seen it in training and my times have been looking great but it just did not link with my racing so I am grateful to dip under that and see that my times in training are actually showing,” said Schoenmaker.
In the men’s programme Pretoria swimmer, Pieter Coetzé powered to a new national and continental record in the 100m backstroke.
The 18-year-old’s time of 52.78 beat the record 52.95 he swam in the semifinals on his way to silver at last year’s World Championships in Peru, and also placed him second fastest in the world this year.
“To be honest, I did not really have any expectations time-wise so I am shocked and very happy with that because it’s still very early in the season. It’s a good start to the season and it’s getting me more riled up for the rest of the year,” said Coetzé.
Earlier in the evening Aimee Canny claimed another A qualifying time in the 200m freestyle after doing so in the morning heats.
She swam to victory in a time of 1:57.82, in a race where the top four swimmers all dipped under two minutes.
Several disabled swimmers also achieved qualifying times for the Para Swimming World Championships which take place in Manchester, England from 31 July – 6 August.
Amkele Qamarana swam an A qualifier in the SB15 50m breaststroke, powering to a personal best time of 34.47 in the evening final.
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