Pieter Coetze, Tatjana Schoenmaker Post Quick 100s on Opening Day of South African Championships

Pieter Coetze -- Photo Courtesy: Gaby Benjamin/Swimming South Africa

Pieter Coetze, Tatjana Schoenmaker Post Quick 100s on Opening Day of South African Championships

As South Africa’s national championships got underway Wednesday in Gqeberha, a pair of the country’s top swimmers each recorded impressive efforts in a 100-meter race.

On the men’s side, the star was18-year-old Pieter Coetze, who won one medal of each color in the backstroke events at the Commonwealth Games last year (including 100 back gold) and three medals (including 200 back gold) at the World Junior Championships. Coetze clocked 52.78 to win the 100 back, beating his previous best time of 52.99 as well as the previous African record. Coetze’s progression could quickly help him become a senior-level backstroke medal contender. Already, Coetze was named the African Male Swimmer of the Year for 2022, and he has committed to a college swimming career at Cal.

Meanwhile, the current star of South African swimming looks set to return to the World Championships after missing last year’s edition of the meet. Tatjana Schoenmaker, the Olympic champion and world-record holder in the 200 breaststroke and the Olympic silver medalist in the 100 breast, won the shorter distance Monday in 1:05.89, more than a second shy of her continental record of 1:04.82 but actually quicker than the winning time from last year’s World Championships, the 1:05.93 posted by Italy’s Benedetta Pilato.

Lara Van Niekerk, who was the Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the 100 breast last year (with Schoenmaker taking silver) placed second here in 1:06.74, well short of her 2022 best of 1:05.47, while Kaylene Corbett, the fifth-place finisher in the 200 breast at the Tokyo Olympics, took third in 1:08.57.

In other events. Matt Sates opened up his competition with a win in the 200 free, although his time of 1:47.92 was a second-and-a-half off his lifetime best(1:46.42). The women’s equivalent race went to Aimee Canny, who is fresh off helping the University of Virginia women clinch an NCAA team title. Canny, who swam on two winning NCAA relays and finished second in the individual 200-yard free at the NCAA Championships, swam a time of 1:58.20 in prelims to beat her seed time by a whopping six seconds, and she returned to win the final in 1:57.82, with Dune Coetzee (1:59.05) and Erin Gallagher (1:59.50) rounding out the top three.

Other winners on the first night included Matthew Randle in the men’s 100 breast (1:01.54, with Michael Houlie second in 1:01.49) and Olivia Nel in the women’s 100 back (1:02.22). Action in Gqeberha continues through Sunday.

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