Chad le Clos moved to third in the world in the men’s 200-meter fly at the 2016 South African Nationals.
Le Clos won the event in a time of 1:55.04, moving ahead of Li Zhuhao (1:55.54) for third in the world. Only Daiya Seto (1:54.14) and Masato Sakai (1:54.21) have been faster this year.
The swim secures le Clos’ chance to defend his Olympic gold medal in the event, during which he took down two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps by just .05 seconds.
Sebastien Rousseau took second tonight in 1:57.38, missing the FINA A cut of 1:56.97. Dylan Bosch placed third overall in 1:58.18.
Eben Vorster (2:00.96), Alard Basson (2:02.02), Brendan Levy (2:02.03), Ude Fuchs (2:03.63), Rudolf Visser (2:04.45), Dayne Odendaal (2:04.68) and JP vd Merwe (2:06.04) also swam in the finale.
=== Finals ===
1 Le Clos, Chad 23-92 KZNA-ET 1:55.61 1:55.04
25.48 54.79 (29.31)
1:25.24 (30.45) 1:55.04 (29.80)
2 Rousseau, Sebastien 25-90 KZNA-ET 1:57.60 1:57.38
26.70 56.35 (29.65)
1:26.43 (30.08) 1:57.38 (30.95)
3 Bosch, Dylan 22-93 CGA-JH 2:01.65 1:58.18
27.26 57.08 (29.82)
1:27.23 (30.15) 1:58.18 (30.95)
4 Vorster, Eben 18-97 FS-MA 2:00.03 2:00.96
57.75 ( )
1:29.99 (32.24) 2:00.96 (30.97)
5 Basson, Alard 20-96 NMA-NM 2:03.29 2:02.02
26.69 57.39 (30.70)
1:29.18 (31.79) 2:02.02 (32.84)
6 Levy, Brendan 18-97 KZNA-ET 2:02.36 2:02.03
28.10 58.12 (30.02)
1:29.37 (31.25) 2:02.03 (32.66)
7 Fuchs, Ude 18-98 LP-LP 2:04.64 2:03.63
28.94 1:00.08 (31.14)
1:31.48 (31.40) 2:03.63 (32.15)
8 Visser, Rudolf 19-96 WPA-CP 2:05.64 2:04.45
27.68 59.07 (31.39)
1:31.47 (32.40) 2:04.45 (32.98)
9 Odendaal, Dayne 19-97 KZNA-ET 2:05.25 2:04.68
28.55 59.77 (31.22)
1:33.06 (33.29) 2:04.68 (31.62)
10 vd Merwe, JP 22-93 NTS-TS 2:05.13 2:06.04
28.04 59.36 (31.32)
2:06.04 (1:06.68)
Heiko Gigler