{"id":609613,"date":"2025-04-09T12:08:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=609613"},"modified":"2025-04-09T14:18:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T21:18:41","slug":"matt-sates-starts-south-african-championships-with-200-free-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/matt-sates-starts-south-african-championships-with-200-free-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Sates Starts South African Championships with 200 Free Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Sates Starts South African Championships with 200 Free Win<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Sates<\/strong> has a busy week ahead of him at the SA Senior National Swimming Championships at Newton Park Swimming Pool. He started it with a win.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old went 1:47.49 to claim the 200 freestyle on the first day of the meet Wednesday. That was nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than the field. It was within a second of the automatic qualifying time for this summer\u2019s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.<\/p>\n

Later in the sessions, Sates was eighth in the 100 breast, having finished sixth in prelims.<\/p>\n

The meet is without the most decorated South African Olympic swimmer Tatjana Smith<\/strong> (nee Tatjana Schoenmaker), who retired from competition after gold<\/a> in the 100 breast and silver in the 200 breast at the Paris Olympics. For the first time in 20 years, Chad le Clos<\/strong> is not entered in the meet, to recover from an injury<\/a>. The Olympic gold medalist in the 200 fly in 2012 will turn 33 this week and will be on deck in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n