{"id":583997,"date":"2024-04-11T14:22:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=583997"},"modified":"2024-04-11T14:22:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:22:59","slug":"sa-national-championships-pieter-coetzee-dominates-with-52-89-100-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/sa-national-championships-pieter-coetzee-dominates-with-52-89-100-back\/","title":{"rendered":"SA National Championships: Pieter Coetzee Dominates with 52.89 100 Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

SA National Championships: Pieter Coetzee Dominates with 52.89 100 Back<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pieter Coetzee<\/strong> confirmed his Olympic spot by going 52.89 to win the 100 backstroke at the SA National Championships Thursday.<\/p>\n

Coetzee was well ahead of the field in both prelims and finals. The 19-year-old went 53.05 in the morning, under the Olympic A standard, then sped up at night to 52.89. His winning margin was more than a second and a half, and he put a scare into his best time of 52.78 from December.<\/p>\n

The only drama at night on the fourth night of the meet was if South Africa could add a second A cut. Ruard van Renen<\/strong> went 54.22 in the morning, shy of the B standard of 54.01, then couldn\u2019t speed up at night. Safely ensconced in second place, the University of Georgia swimmer went 54.50.<\/p>\n