Cameron on song in Singapore

Johannesburg - South African swimming sensation Cameron van der Burgh is well on his way to claiming the overall Fina Swimming World Cup series title after winning the first and second cluster.

Van der Burgh has been in rampant form this season and has already won a total of nine gold medals and one silver.

The Pretoria swimmer is one gold medal short of the career best 10 medals he won in 2008 when he claimed his maiden series victory.

The first day of swimming at the Singapore leg on Saturday had to be cancelled due to poor air quality caused by fires in Indonesia.

Sunday’s racing went down without a hitch and Van der Burgh continued his winning run in the men’s 100m breaststroke with his fifth gold medal in as many galas.

Van der Burgh’s 100m breaststroke winning time of 59.38 seconds on Sunday was the ninth time he had dipped below 60 seconds this year.

He touched the wall ahead of the United States’ Kevin Cordes with 1:00.81 and the second-placed LI Xiang of China, who bagged bronze in a time of 1:01.03.

Fellow South African Michael Meyer was also in action on Sunday where he had to be content with fifth place in the men’s 200m backstroke, posting a time of 2:05.44, with Japan’s Yuki Shirai winning the race in 1:57.96.

The 27-year-old Van der Burgh is currently leading the overall rankings and could add his third Swimming World Cup Series title after he won it for consecutive years in 2008 and 2009.

The next gala of the eight-leg series will take place in Tokyo on October 28 and 29.