Le Clos strikes gold in Dubai

Johannesburg - Commonwealth and world short course gold medallist Chad Le Clos won three gold medals on the first day of the 2011 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup in Dubai on Friday.

The 19-year-old Le Clos began the evening's finals with a gold medal in the 400m individual medley, over a second ahead of the competition with a time of 4:04.58. Austria’s Dinko Jukic claimed the silver in 4:05.65 and the bronze went to Germany’s Marco Koch in 4:12.27.

There was no stopping Le Clos as he scooped his second gold medal in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:52.55, while Jukic had to again settle for the silver in 1:53.17. Andrey Tambovskiy of Russia came in third place with a time of 1:57.61.

The Durban-based swimmer ended the night with his third gold in the 100m individual medley with Jukic in hot in pursuit in second. Le Clos clocked 53.48 to Jukic’s 53.51.

Le Clos was set for three more finals on Saturday after he qualified for the 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 200m backstroke.

The next leg of the seven leg series will be held in Stockholm, Sweden from October 15-16.