{"id":617192,"date":"2025-07-25T15:09:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=617192"},"modified":"2025-07-25T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:09:26","slug":"world-champs-profile-pieter-coetze-looking-to-continue-climb-of-backstroke-ladder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-champs-profile-pieter-coetze-looking-to-continue-climb-of-backstroke-ladder\/","title":{"rendered":"World Champs Profile: Pieter Coetze Looking to Continue Climb Up Backstroke Ladder"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Champs Profile: Pieter Coetze Looking to Continue Climb of Backstroke Ladder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leading into the start of the World Championships this weekend, Swimming World will publish a handful of short profiles on top contenders for the podium in Singapore. Our next entry in this series features South African Pieter Coetze, who has etched himself as a world-class performer across all three backstroke events.<\/p>\n

Pieter Coetze<\/strong>
\nSouth Africa<\/strong>
\nEvents:<\/strong> 50 Backstroke\/100 Backstroke\/200 Backstroke<\/p>\n

The Road to Singapore<\/h3>\n

The 2024 Olympic Games showcased Coetze\u2019s talent level. Although the South African finished shy of the podium, he packaged impressive performances in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. After setting an African record of 52.58 en route to fifth place in the 100 back, he placed seventh in the 200 back behind an African standard of 1:55.60.<\/p>\n

Coetze will arrive in Singapore with the momentum of consistent performances in April at the South African Championships, followed by a 51.99 clocking in the 100 backstroke at the World University Games. He currently sits first in the world in the 100 backstroke and is 10th<\/sup> in the world in the 50 back (24.49) and 11th in the 200 back (1:56.07). It wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see the 21-year-old lower his personal bests and push for a medal in at least one of the backstrokes.<\/p>\n

Top Career Achievement<\/h3>\n

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Coetze captured the gold medal in the 100 backstroke, accounting for the only title by a South African male. Later that year, he also captured the gold medal in the 200 backstroke at the World Junior Championships.<\/p>\n

Previous World Champs Hardware<\/h3>\n

Coetze has one medal from the World Championships, captured at last year\u2019s edition in Doha. In the 200 backstroke, Coetze recorded a time of 1:55.99 to place behind Spain\u2019s Hugo Gonzalez and Switzerland\u2019s Roman Mityukov.<\/p>\n

Stat Fact<\/h3>\n

Coetze is one of three South Africans to earn a medal in the backstroke at the World Championships. Gerhard Zandberg won four medals in the 50 backstroke, including gold in 2007, and Zane Waddell was the champion of the 50 backstroke in 2019.<\/p>\n

World Champs Profiles<\/strong><\/p>\n

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