South Africa Age Group Swimming Championship: Day five - Recap
Day five of the South Africa Age group Swimming Championship concluded with the preliminary rounds of the 200m breast-stroke, 100m butterfly, and the 200m back-stroke in the Men’s and Women’s age group categories. The championship also faced an upset, as
the Men’s 200m butterfly World Champion, Chad Le Clos, lost his race to Heinrich Alberts.
The championship started with the Men’s 200m breast-stroke event, where the 18-year-old Christopher Cowley qualified as the fastest swimmer into the final in a time of 2:22.24 minutes. He was comfortably ahead of Kurt Benjamin and Dylan Bosch, who qualified
as the second and third fastest swimmers by clocking a time of 2:25.66 and 2:26.15 minutes, respectively.
The next event was the Women’s 200m breast-stroke, where a fierce battle was seen among the 17-year-old Kelly Gunnell and 18-year-old Franko Jonker, who finished the race with a slight difference of 0.02 seconds. Gunnell qualified as the fastest swimmer
in a time of 2:36.05 minutes against Jonker’s 2:36.07 minutes. They were followed by Nicole Harris in the third fastest qualifying seat, in a time of 2:39.19 minutes. Her effort was two seconds above her seed time of 2:37.61 minutes.
The biggest upset of the day was seen in the Men’s 100m butterfly, where the 200m World Champion in the same category, Chad Le Clos, failed to qualify as the fastest swimmer into the finals. Le Clos lost the race from 18-year-old Heinrich Alberts, who touched
the wall first in a time of 55.39 seconds against Le Clos’s 55.79 seconds. Dylan Bosch followed to secure the third fastest qualification spot in a time of 56.98 seconds.
In the Women’s corner, 17-year-old Terianne Brown qualified as the fastest female swimmer for the 100m butterfly event in a time of 1:05.84 minutes, ahead of Mu’minah Connelly and Jessica Kelsey, who touched the wall in 1:07.26 and 1:08.24 minutes, respectively.
The next event was the Men’s 200m back-stroke, where Michael Meyer qualified as the fastest swimmer for the final in a time of 2:06.43 minutes. He was followed by Niel DE Villiers and Chris Vd Sante, who touched the finishing wall in a time of 2:07.65 and
2:08.22 minutes, respectively.
The last event of the day was the Women’s 200m back-stroke, where Natasha DE Vos earned the fastest swimmer spot for the final in a time of 2:18.54 minutes. She was followed by Fabienne Marsay and Kathryn Baumann in a time of 2:25.72 and 2:26.67 minutes,
respectively.
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