PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa, August 8. EARLIER today, Roland Schoeman clocked a 20.30 in the men's 50 free semifinals of the South African Short Course Championships. Additionally, Cameron van der Burgh lowered his global marks in the 50 breast finale and 100 breast semis.
Schoeman's swim cleared Amaury Leveaux's world record of 20.48 set last December at the European Short Course Championships.
The performance returned the record to Schoeman, as he previously held the standard before Leveaux.
Here is the progression:
20.64 Roland Schoeman, RSA – Johannesburg 9-6-08
20.48sf Amaury Leveaux, FRA – Rijeka 12-11-08
20.30p Roland Schoeman, RSA – Pietermaritzburg 08-08-09
Event 65 Men 50 SC Meter Freestyle
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2006SA-Short: * 20.98 12/08/2006ROLAND M. SCHOEMAN at Deutsche, TUKS-NT
2006Africa-S: # 20.98 12/08/2006ROLAND M. SCHOEMAN at Deutsche, TUKS-NT
Name Age Team Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Schoeman, Roland 29 Tuks-NT 20.74 20.30*
2 Zandberg, Gerhard 26 GZSA-NT 22.45 21.48
3 Bosman, Werner 21 Players-NT 22.40 22.01
4 Gilchrist, Wesley 20 SGUL-KZ 22.01 22.03
5 Wilken, Jurie 19 Tuks-NT 22.69 22.55
6 Greeff, Frank 17 Aquabear-EP 23.31 22.86
7 Van Rensburg, Conrad 19 Players-NT 23.27 23.17
8 Wessels, Daniel 19 SGUL-KZ 23.31 23.18
With Schoeman already lowering the world record in the 50 free, van der Burgh joined him with a sterling time of 25.43 in the men's 50 breast. The clocking crushed his previous world record of 25.94 set last November.
van der Burgh has taken the event to new lows, as evidenced by its recent progression:
26.17 Oleg Lisogor, UKR – Berlin 1-21-06
26.08 Cameron van der Burgh, RSA – Moscow 11-08-08
25.94 Cameron van der Burgh, RSA – Stockholm 11-11-08
25.43 Cameron van der Burgh, RSA – Pietermaritzburg 08-08-09
Event 16 Men 50 SC Meter Breaststroke
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2006SA-Short: * 26.99 05/12/2003Roland M Schoeman FINA World C, TUKS-NT
2006Africa-S: # 26.99 05/12/2003Roland M Schoeman FINA World C, TUKS
Name Age Team Semis Finals Points
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=== Finals ===
1 VD Burgh, Cameron 21 Players-NT 26.33 25.43*
2 Versfeld, Neil 24 SEAL-KZ 26.99 26.44*
van der Burgh also lowered the men's 100 breast world record during semis. He clocked a time of 56.39 to chop half a second from his global mark of 56.88 set last November.
Here are the comparative splits:
Today: 26.04, 56.39 (30.35)
November: 26.56, 56.88 (30.32)
In the last year, van der Burgh has drastically altered the world record in the event as seen by the following recent progressions:
57.47 Ed Moses, USA – Stockholm 1-23-02
56.88 Cameron van der Burgh, RSA – Moscow 11-09-08
56.39sf Cameron van der Burgh, RSA – Pietermaritzburg 08-08-09
Event 59 Men 100 SC Meter Breaststroke
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2006SA-Short: * 59.56 26/03/2004Gregory D Owen NCAA SC Champs, MUST-CG
2006Africa-S: # 59.56 26/03/2004Gregory D Owen NCAA SC Champs, MUST
Name Age Team Prelims Semis
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=== Semi-Finals ===
1 VD Burgh, Cameron 21 Players-NT 1:00.25 56.39*
26.04 56.39 (30.35)
2 Versfeld, Neil 24 SEAL-KZ 1:00.68 58.00*
27.45 58.00 (30.55)
3 Zandberg, Gerhard 26 GZSA-NT 1:03.73 58.55*
27.54 58.55 (31.01)
4 Diering, William 23 Tuks-NT 1:02.45 1:00.49
28.34 1:00.49 (32.15)
5 Oliver, Ashley 21 Maties-WP 1:00.98 1:00.91
28.30 1:00.91 (32.61)
6 Karsten, Warren 19 Players-NT 1:03.06 1:01.96
28.34 1:01.96 (33.62)
7 Langley, Chris 19 WATR-CG 1:03.12 1:01.97
28.50 1:01.97 (33.47)
8 Parkin, Terence 29 SEAL-KZ 1:03.39 1:02.01
29.16 1:02.01 (32.85)