Matt Sates Starts South African Championships with 200 Free Win
Matt Sates has a busy week ahead of him at the SA Senior National Swimming Championships at Newton Park Swimming Pool. He started it with a win.
The 21-year-old went 1:47.49 to claim the 200 freestyle on the first day of the meet Wednesday. That was nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than the field. It was within a second of the automatic qualifying time for this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Later in the sessions, Sates was eighth in the 100 breast, having finished sixth in prelims.
The meet is without the most decorated South African Olympic swimmer Tatjana Smith (nee Tatjana Schoenmaker), who retired from competition after gold in the 100 breast and silver in the 200 breast at the Paris Olympics. For the first time in 20 years, Chad le Clos is not entered in the meet, to recover from an injury. The Olympic gold medalist in the 200 fly in 2012 will turn 33 this week and will be on deck in Gqeberha.
Pieter Coetze put a scare into his national record in the men’s 100 backstroke, winning in 52.71. He set the mark at 52.58 at the Paris Olympics last year. He set the pace in 53.03 in prelims.
Second was Ruard van Renan in 54.77. That’s under the B cut for Worlds. Coetze secured an A cut, the standard 53.94.
The women’s competition featured a trio of fantastic races on the first day. Dune Coetzee won the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:59.09. That was just ahead of Rebecca Meder, who went 1:59.38, and top seed Aimee Canny, who was passed in the final 100 to finish third in 1:59.48. She had entered with the best seed time of 1:57.33. All three are consideration cuts for Worlds, the A cut 1:58.23.
Meder rallied to defend her top seed in the 100 breast, winning in 1:07.50. That’s more than a second and a half slower than her seed time and a Worlds B cut. She went out hard in 31.52 and held off the back-half charge of Simone Moll, who finished second in 1:07.89. Moll was a tenth up on Olympian Kaylene Corbett, who was third in 1:07.99. The Worlds A cut is 1:06.78.
The 100 back was just as close. Jessica Thompson edged her way to the victory in 1:01.68. The was .24 seconds ahead of Milla Drakopoulos, who went 1:01.92, followed by Michaela De Villiers in 1:02.03 and Hannah Pearse in 1:02.22. The top five swimmers were under the B cut for Worlds, though no one hit the 1:00.46 A standard. Olivia Nel, the top seed on the psych sheet, scratched out of the event.
On the men’s side, Chris Smith went 1:01.02 in prelims and was slower at night but still got the better of Michael Houlie by .22 seconds with a time of 1:01.57. Houlie and Matthew Randle (1:01.82) both got under 1:02. The A cut for Worlds in 59.75, and Smith had a seed time of 59.11.