Share

SA swim trio shine in Dubai

Cape Town - SA swimmers Darian Townsend, Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh have excelled on the second day of the FINA World Cup in Dubai.

According to the swimming world magazine website, Townsend won two gold medals, while Le Clos won his second gold medal in two days by setting an African record when he won the 100m butterlfly. Van der Burgh won gold in the 100m breastroke.

Townsend won gold in the 200m freestyle (1:42.71) and followed that up with a 200 individual medley triumph, pushing his medal tally to three in Dubai after a bronze on Tuesday. He topped the medley in 1:53.25, while Japan's Daiya Seto turned in a second-place time of 1:53.90 for his third silver of the meet and fourth medal overall. Australia's Kenneth To tracked down his third medal of the meet with a third-place 1:54.86.

Townsend is on fire as his time would have ranked him fourth in the world last season. Seto bettered his time from a year ago of 1:54.65 from the Stockholm stop, while To nearly clipped his season-best last year of 1:54.38.

Le Clos snatched his second win of the meet with a blazing time of 49.82 in the men's 100 butterfly to set a new African record. Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin (50.67) and USA's Tom Shields (50.97) each earned their first podiums of the meet with second and third-place finishes, respectively.

Le Clos' sterling time would have put him second in the world last season behind only Konrad Czerniak's 49.62. His best time a year ago was a 50.63 at the Singapore stop on the World Cup circuit. He has now moved to 13th all time in the event's history, joining just 15 other swimmers to ever break 50 seconds. Incidentally, his time also broke Lyndon Ferns' South African record of 50.19.

Van der Burgh touched out New Zealand's Glenn Snyders from outside in lane one with a 58.33 triumph. He won his second title of the meet en route to $3 000 in winnings thus far. Germany's Marco Koch completed the podium with a third-place time of 58.90, just edging South Africa's Neil Versfeld, who placed fourth in 58.91.

Van der Burgh is coming off a controversial victory at the 2012 London Olympic after which he admitted to using illegal dolphin kicks claiming that everyone else was doing it as well.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
26% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1470 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2249 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE