The SA Short Course Championships wrapped up in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, with several swimmers adding their names to the mix for selection for the World Short Course Championships by achieving B qualifying times.
While that doesn’t ensure automatic qualification, it means they can still be selected for the SA team to compete in Beijing in early December.
Stephanie Houtman won the 1500m freestyle in 16min 13.2 sec while Duné Coetzee was second in 16:32.87, with both swimmers dipping under the B qualifying mark.
“The 800 didn’t go the way I wanted, but I went back and looked at my mistakes and I tried to work on it in my 1500. I think I was a bit too much in my head, so I focused more on my turns and my stroke and where my head position was, and I felt much smoother in the 1500,” Houtman said.
Coetzee later capped off a successful four days by adding the 100m freestyle to her haul of four gold medals, winning in a time 54.83. Coetzee’s other three titles came in the 200, 400 and 800m freestyle, with an A qualifying time in the 400m event.
Speaking about her performances, Coetzee said: “I’m stoked. It was so fun, and I felt the best that I’ve felt in years of racing. It was a lot of nerves the first two days for the 400 and the 800, but after that, the job was done in the morning of the 400, so I just enjoyed the rest of it and the last two days have been the most fun I’ve had in a very long time.”
There were three B qualifiers in the men’s 100m freestyle with Guy Brooks taking the title in 47.59, just touching ahead of Armand Coetzee (47.84) and Kaydn Naidoo (48.30). All the finals session results featured handheld times because of a timing system glitch, but the trio also achieved the B qualifying time in the morning heats.
Naidoo also unofficially added the 100m individual medley B qualifier to his achievements after winning in 54.75 seconds, having missed the required time by just one hundredth of a second in the morning heats.
Matthew Caldwell completed his hat-trick of titles by claiming victory in the men’s 1500m freestyle in a time of 15:13.33 – also a B qualifier – to add to his 400 and 800m freestyle golds.
Georgia Nel was the other swimmer to achieve a B qualifier on Sunday, swimming 1:01.65 in her morning heat of the 100m individual medley.
Supplied by Swimming SA