Rebecca Meder, Michaela de Villiers Set Records at South African Championships
Rebecca Meder and Michaela de Villiers set national records in the second day of the South African National Senior Championships on Thursday.
Meder started the evening session with a win in the 200 individual medley, her second win of the meet and third top-two finish at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha. Her time of 2:10.39 is an automatic qualifying time for the 2025 World Championships. It lowers the South African mark she has set four times, trimming the 2:10.67 she swam at the Paris Olympics.
Second was Aimee Canny in 2:16.05, a Worlds B cut.
The women’s 50 backstroke delivered an outstanding race, a fitting way to celebrate its inclusion in the Olympic program this week. de Villiers went 28.25 to win. Second was Jessica Thompson in 28.29, with Olivia Nel third in 28.42. All three times, plus fourth-place Milla Drakopoulos in 29.01, hit the Worlds consideration standard. De Villiers and Thompson were under the South African record of 28.37 set by Tayla Jonker at Worlds last year. Jonker was fifth on Thursday in 29.24.
Matt Sates added another pair of wins, doing the 200 IM/200 fly double. The 21-year-old got under the A standard in the IM with a time of 1:58.83. His time was 5.5 seconds quicker than Kian Keylock in second. Sates booked a Worlds B cut in the 200 fly in 1:57.71, edging Kris Mihaylov by just under a half second.
Mihaylov, a 17-year-old who is a Class of 2026 commit to the University of Virginia, dropped a massive best time, going 2:03.28 in prelims, then 1:58.18 in finals. He had entered with a 2:13 seed time.
Pieter Coetzee stated his case for an Olympic spot in the men’s 50 back, with a time of 24.78 to win the final. He was quicker in the morning at 24.58. Both are Worlds A cuts. Coetzee is still chasing the super-suited African record of 24.34 set in 2009 by Gerhard Zandberg that stands as the national mark.
Jonah Pool-Jones was second in 25.70, while Ruard van Renen finished third. He had been 25.52 in prelims but was fourth tenths slower at night.
Dune Coetzee went 2:14.74 to win the women’s 200 fly, three tenths up on Jaime Mote but shy of the Worlds B standard. The 1,500 freestyle were also contested, with Catherine van Rensburg winning the women’s race in 16:39.99, a Worlds consideration cut, and Matthew Caldwell taking the men’s in 15:37.17.
In paraswimming events, Naseerah du Toit lowered her S8 100 fly record for the second time to 1:47.38. Christian Sadie improved his S7 national mark in the 50 free from the Paris Paralympics, while James Willers claimed an S10 200 fly mark.