Chad le Clos breaks 50m butterfly record at the South Africa Age Group Championships
Gold medallist in the 200m butterfly category at the 2010 World Championships, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, improved the record for the 50m butterfly at the South Africa Age Group Championships in a time of 3:54.44 minutes.
Clos previously won the Men’s 400m freestyle on the first day of the championship and this was his sixth title of the event.
The third day of the championship began with the 50m butterfly event, where Clos proved why he is the world champion in the same category. He submitted a swim of 24.71 seconds to secure the gold medal. Clos faced a tough time from Brett Walsh to claim his
victory, as Walsh was only 0.17 seconds away from him, touching the wall in a time of 24.54 seconds.
Clos also won the 100m freestyle over Brett Walsh and Byron Doyle in a time of 50.68 seconds, against their 51.70 seconds and 52.09 seconds, respectively. He also won the title for 400m Individual Medley (IM) in a wonderful timing of 4:23.79 minutes.
In 2010, the 18-year-old swimmer reached the international podium three times, including the Youth Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. He won a total of four gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals in these championships
in the events of butterfly, Individual Medley and freestyle relays.
In the next event, 14-year-old Brenden Crawford improved the record of the 100m back-stroke event held by 16-year-old, Terence Parkin. He registered a time of 1:07.41 minutes, which brought a big smile on Crawford’s coach.
On the Women’s side, Michelle Weber demonstrated a record-breaking performance on each day of the championship. This time she won the 100m freestyle in a time of 58.59 seconds and finished just ahead of Kyna Periera, who also clocked a time which was under
the record.
In the age bracket of 15-year-old, Vanessa Mohr produced a wonderful swim in the event of the 50m butterfly in a time of 26.76 seconds, which was a new record time for the event. She also won the 100m freestyle in her age-group in a time of 57.36 seconds.
Mohr was followed by Kayla Ferreira and Kristy Muller, who touched the finishing wall in a time of 58.95 and 59.38 seconds, respectively.
The championship is a basis for the selection of the South African team which will compete at the 2011 World Championships, to be staged in Shanghai, this July.
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