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Durban - The women dominated the second day of the SA National Aquatic Championships taking place at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre in Durban on Tuesday.
Tshwane’s Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett brought the crowd to their feet when they both clocked FINA Qualification times in the 200m breaststroke in 2:24.44 and 2:25.62, winning the gold and silver in the process, while the bronze went to Tailyn Seyffert in 2:32.85.
Nathania van Niekerk sprinted to a thrilling finish in the 200m backstroke, posting her first qualification time of the Championships in 2:11.37, while Mariella Venter was a close second in 2:12.57 and Samantha Randle third in 2:16.85.
In the 50m butterfly, Erin Gallagher was in record breaking form winning the race with a new South African record time of 26.30, shedding 0.06 off Lize-Marie Retief’s 2008 time of 26.36.
The silver and bronze in the butterfly went to Tayla Lovemore in 26.63 and Hannah McLean-Leonard in 27.42, while on the men’s side, Ryan Coetzee grabbed the gold in 23.80 ahead of Douglas Erasmus in 24.21 and Brad Tandy in 24.51.
Rebecca Meder just missed out on adding her name to the FINA World Championships Qualification list when she won the 200m freestyle in 2:00.82, 2.16 off the required 1:58.66. The silver medal was claimed by Dune Coetzee in 2:01.09 and the bronze by Marlies Ross in 2:04.44.
Christopher Reid (23) started the competition on a high note with a FINA Qualification time of 1:57.11 in the 200m backstroke, followed by Martin Binedell in 1:59.13 and Alessio Ferreri in 2:04.46, while the 200m breaststroke saw Alaric Basson take the top honours in 2:13.42 ahead of Ayrton Sweeney in 2:15.32 and Bailey Musgrave in 2:16.84.
Olympian Chad le Clos added the 200m freestyle gold medal to his tally in 1:48.55, just over a second short of the 1:47.40 FINA Standard, while the silver was claimed by Eben Vorster in 1:50.48 and the bronze by Brent Szurdoki in 1:50.55.
In the 4x100m mixed medley relay, KZN’s Binedell, Gallagher, Lovemore and Jared Pike won in 3:55.48 ahead of the Western Cape’s Olivia Nel, Ethan du Preez, Michael Houlie and Aimee Canny in 3:57.09 and Tshwane’s Coetzee, Corbett, Louw Oberholzer and Francois du Plessis in 4:01.87.
Michaela Kretzen (S14) claimed yet another gold medal in the 100m butterfly multi-disability event in 1:32.26, with the S1-13 gold going to Paralympian Alani Ferreira (S13) in 1:21.13, while on the men’s side, the gold medals went to Mark Roach (S15) and Johann van Heerden (S10) in 1:01.79 and 1:07.75, respectively.
Kretzen also scooped the 50m freestyle title in 32.05.
In the 50m freestyle multi-disability races, the gold medals were won by Pierre Dellieu (S15) in 25.06, Franco Smit (S12) in 25.06 and Cornelle Leach (S12) in 32.21.
The SA National Aquatic Championships will continue on Wednesday with the heats session starting at 09:30, while the finals will begin at 17:00 daily.
Qualifying Times: FINA World Championships - After Day 2:
Chad le Clos - 200m butterfly - 1:56.21
Erin Gallagher - 100m freestyle - 54.34
Tatjana Schoenmaker - 200m breaststroke - 2:24.44
Kaylene Corbett - 200m breaststroke - 2:25.62
Nathania van Niekerk - 200m backstroke- 2:11.37
Christopher Reid - 200m backstroke - 1:57.11
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