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Cape Town - South African swimming star Chad le Clos took to the water for the first time at the 2019 FINA World Championships in the heats for the men's 200m butterfly on Tuesday.
Swimming out of Lane 4 in Heat 3, Le Clos touched the wall first in a time of 1:56.17.
When all was said and done, Le Clos' time wound up as the fifth-fastest, almost two seconds slower than the leading time posted by Hungary's 19-year-old star Kristof Milak (1:54.19).
Le Clos will swim alongside Milak in the semi-finals starting at 14:34 SA time on Tuesday.
Le Clos scratched from the 50m butterfly earlier in the meet, but is expected to contest the 100m butterfly heats on Friday.
Meanwhile, other South Africans in action in Tuesday's Day 3 heats didn't fare as well, with Michael Houlie finishing 19th in the men's 50m breaststroke (27.41) which was 1.13 behind the quickest time laid down by Great Britain's Adam Peaty (26.28).
In the women's 200m freestyle, Rebecca Meder struggled to a time of 2:02.70 which was only good enough for 30th place and a full 7.56 behind the fastest time recorded by Sweden's Sarah Sjöström (1:55.14).
