Different week, different country but same result for Team SA’s swimming star Pieter Coetze who claimed the men’s 200m backstroke gold medal on the opening day of the 2024 Swimming World Cup in Singapore on Thursday.
The 20-year-old therefore completed a clean sweep of the 200m backstroke golds in the third snd final leg of the short-course series (25m pool), having dominated the event in the opening two legs of Shanghai and Incheon.
Coetze led from start to finish to stop the clock at 1min 49.88sec. His time of 1:49.12 from the meet in Shanghai was the first time he had ever dipped unfer 1:50, but he is now making a habit of it. Ahead of this World Cup series, his previous PB rested at the 1:51.51 from the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Italy’s Lorenza Mora was a well-beaten second in 1:51.07, well off his national record of 1:48.43 from last year’s European Championships.
Coetze was winning his sixth gold medal in the three World Cup meets and upped his total medals count to seven, which is half oif what South Africa has scooped so far in the pool.
SA’S MEDALS IN WORLD CUP SERIES SO FAR
(6) Gold
Pieter Coetze (50m backstroke, 100m backstroke x2, 200m backstroke x3)
(3) Silver
Pieter Coetze (50m backstroke)
Chad Le Clos (100m, 200m butterfly)
(5) Bronze
Pieter Coetze (men’s 100m freestyle x2)
Rebecca Meder (100m breaststroke)
Rebecca Meder (200m breaststroke)
Rebecca Meder (200m individual medley)
Words by Gary Lemke
File photo of Pieter Coetze