SA on Day 1 recap (updated)
Women’s 400m Individual Medley: Marlies Ross. The 20-year-old clocked 4:55.30 to finish sixth in her heat and failed to progress to the final.
Men’s 400m freestyle: Brent Szurdoki. The 21-year-old timed 3:56.40, to finish fifth in his heat and 10th overall, missing out on the final. ‘Not what I wanted, but no excuses. I’m looking forward to the 1500m, which is my favourite.’
Eben Vorster. The 20-year-old clocked 3:56.82, a personal best, to finish sixth in his heat and 11th overall, missing out on the final. ‘I was very nervous, but am happy,’ he said.
Women’s 200m freestyle: Duné Coetzee. The 15-year-old finished fifth in her heat in 2:04.15, for 14th place overall. ‘This is my first senior championships. I wasn’t nervous, just excited, but it’s two seconds off my PB, so I can’t say I’m that happy with that part of things.’
Kristen Bellingan. The 20-year-old took 0.36 seconds off her SB to clock 2.04.37 for fifth in her heat and 15th overall.
Ross finished sixth in her heat in 2:08.29, five seconds off her entry time, to place 17th overall.
Men’s 50m butterfly
Heats: Chad le Clos finished second in his heat to gold medal favourite Ben Proud, but the Englishman was disqualified. That left Le Clos, with a 23.53, the fastest qualifier headed into the semi-finals.
Ryan Coetzee was the first to dip under 24 sec when he won his heat in 23.94. That placed him third overall heading into the semi-finals.
Brad Tandy finished third behind Coetzee in his heat in 24.41, which placed him 10th fastest overall to qualify for the semi-finals.
Semi-finals: Le Clos and Coetzee, who have been training together, finished first and second in their semi-final, the faster of the two, to go into the final with huge confidence. Le Clos timed 23.53, the same as the morning, while Coetzee clocked a PB 23.79. Tandy finished sixth in his semi in 24.35 and missed out on the final.
Women’s 50m breaststroke: Tatjana Schoenmaker finished second in her heat, in 30.92, which was an African record, and shaved 0.52 seconds off her entry time. She qualified third fastest into the semi-finals.
Kaylene Corbett finished sixth in her heat in 32.51, for 17th overall.
Emile Visagie finished seventh in her heat, in 32.73, for 18th overall.
Semi-final: Schoenmaker was slightly off her African record swim from the morning, but she still clocked 31.01, which was fast enough to see her into Friday’s final.
Women’s 100m butterfly: Erin Gallagher finished third in her heat in 59.25, with Duné Coetzee seventh in the same race in 1:02.03. Gallagher qualified for the semi-finals, eighth fastest, while Coetzee finished 17th and missed out on the semis.
Semi-final: Gallagher produced a 59.04 which left her one place short of reaching the final, finishing ninth fastest.
Men’s 100m backstroke: Martin Binedell finished fourth in his heat in 56.37. That left him 12th fastest overall and qualified him for the semi-finals.
Calvyn Justus finished fourth in his heat in 55.69, which left in 10th fastest overall and qualified him for the semi-finals.
Semi-finals: In his semi-final Binedell finished seventh in 56.91 to miss out on the final, while Justus cut a bitterly disappointed figure as he clocked a personal best 55.25 to finish fifth in the first semi, but placed ninth, with the cut for the final being the top eight.
Men’s 200m breaststroke: Ayrton Sweeney finished fourth in his heat in 2:13.27, for ninth overall and missing the final.
Luan Grobbelaar finished sixth in his heat in 2:18.90 for 11th overall and missing the final.
Women’s 4x100m freestyle, Final: Team South Africa finished fifth in 3:46.04, in a race won by Australia who produced the first world record of these Games in winning gold in 3:309.05.
Source: teamsa.co.za