South Africa has a new swimming star on the blocks. While Pieter Coetze recently confirmed his status as a world champion senior backstroker in Singapore, Kris Mihaylov won the 200m butterfly gold at the World Junior Championships in Romania.
Mihaylov was out fast, splitting 55.52 on the opening 100m. He then closed out the race in earning gold in 1:56.16. He had entered the meet with a career best of 1:58.18, marking a huge improvement of a little over two seconds.
This was a huge win, especially considering Mihaylov is regarded a freestyle specialist, though he has some very solid IM and fly times. He is the South African national age group record-holder for 17-year-olds in the SCM 800-1500 free; for 16-year-olds in the SCM 100-200-400-800-1500 free and the 100-200-800-1500 free; and for 15-year-olds in the LCM 200-400-800-1500 free.
Currently coached by Peter Williams, Mihaylov is headed to the United States next year where he will join the University of Georgia. There he will team up with South African-born coach Neil Versfeld and have another top backstroker Ruard van Renen as a teammate.