Tatjana Schoenmaker Drops Two 2:19s to Win 200 Breast at SA National Championships

Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker) of South Africa competes in the 200m Breaststroke Women Final during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 28th, 2023.

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Tatjana Schoenmaker Drops Two 2:19s to Win 200 Breast at SA National Championships

Reigning Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker dropped a pair of 2:19s in the 200 breaststroke Wednesday to book passage to the Paris Olympics.

Swimming under her married name, Tatjana Smith, at the South African National Championships, she was led the way in prelims at 2:19.92. She sped up at the evening session to win the event in 2:19.01.

That’s not far from the time she used to win Olympic gold in Tokyo, 2:18.95, which was then a world record. (It’s since been lowered by Russian Evgeniia Chikunova to 2:17.55; Chikunova is unlikely to be at the Paris Olympics given her nation’s status in international competition).

Second was Kaylene Corbett, who finished fourth in the 200 breast in Tokyo. She went 2:23.71, which is under the A standard. Her 2:23.84 in the morning confirmed that.

Pieter Coetzee added an A cut in the men’s 200 backstroke on the third day of the meet at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Ggeberha. He had been second in prelims in just 2:04.96, but the 19-year-old sped up to go 1:55.85 at night. That’s just a tenth of a second off the stubborn national record of George Du Rand that has persisted since the 2009 World Championships. It’s well under the auto standard of 1:55.85.

Coetzee beat the field by more than 6.5 seconds. Dylan Wright was second, more than a second quicker than his top seed in prelims but still well behind in 2:02.46.

Aimee Canny secured an Olympic consideration cut in the women’s 200 free. Her winning time of 1:57.39 is just outside the A cut of 1:57.26 but under the 1:57.85 for Olympic consideration. She was 2.2 seconds up on runner-up Dune Coetzee.

Matt Sates picked up another win, though shy of the A cut in the 200 free. She went 1:48.82 to win, edging Kris Mihaylov and Ricky Lottering, both of whom broke 1:50. The cut to get to Paris is 1:46.26.

Matthew Randle won the men’s 200 breast in 2:14.01. Hannah Pearse dominated the women’s 200 back in 2:12.19. Both are shy of qualification times.

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