Gold for Coetzer while Gallagher and Van Renen also deliver

A full house of gold, silver and bronze inside a packed Tollcross International Swimming Centre took Team SA’s medals tally to five and counting, at these 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The gold came from Pieter Coetze, a 1.97m affable giant outside of the pool but who has the ice-cold, ruthless temperament of an assassin in the water. The silver was delivered by one of our female stars over the last decade, Erin Gallagher, while bronze was produced by the breakout swimmer of these Games, Ruard van Renen.

All five medals have come from the swimmers and there’s the strong likelihood of more coming on Sunday.

South Africans saw the future coming from a long way off. Coetze was only 17 when competing in his first Olympics at Tokyo 2020 and then 18 when winning three medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Being crowned world champion in Singapore last year brought him to the top table of the sport and now Coetze has delivered four stunning performances in a row at the 2026 Commonwealth Games ... and he’s still only 22.

Coetze and Van Renen’s double act in the 50m backstroke, which could well continue over the 100m and 200m, marked the first time that two South African male swimmers have shared the podium at a Commonwealth Games since Chad le Clos and Ryan Coetzee did at Gold Coast 2018.

In three successive swims Coetze has lowered the Games record. First it was a 24.45sec in the heats, then a 24.29 in the semi-finals and now 24.18 in the final. It was spectacular in its dominance and even if 0.30sec doesn’t sound a lot, in a 50m pool, at elite level it is a clearcut margin.

Van Renen had looked like making it a Team SA 1-2 but admitted afterwards that he’d faltered on his last three strokes. “I’m a great analytical swimmer and I go back and watch where I can improve and that finish cost me the silver medal. But I’m happy now with what I got and I still think there’s two more medals in the bag at these Games.” He too has gone quicker in every race and he too doubled up with Coetze on men’s 4x100m freestyle duties to help Le Clos earn a record 19th Commonwealth Games record.

Coetze rules the Commonwealth in the 50m, the “weakest” of his three backstroke disciplines and he’s likely to now go on and take the treble over the longer distances but he’s not getting too carried away just yet. He knows that there’s a rich crop of backstroke sprinters outside of the Commonwealth who will have now seen the target on his back. One is Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov, another is China’s Jiayu Xu. Let’s see how next year’s World Championships go before we project towards LA 2028. But we can’t not be excited.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Coetze told media in the aftermath of his barnstorming win. “I have had to overcome challenges in training for these Games and have been through quite a tough time, I didn’t know what was going to happen and the way it’s worked out means a lot to me. I’ve never sung the national anthem on the podium with a teammate before.

“I train more for the middle distance, 100 and 200m, and the fact I was still able to pull it off in the 50m makes me really glad. Yesterday’s (relay) medal was one we wanted to do for Chad and it was amazing to be part of it.”

Gallagher earned a second successive Games 50m butterfly silver medal when she chased home formidable Australian Alex Perkins. Gallagher, who said that this was her final Commonwealth Games – "my first was in Glasgow in 2014, so I feel like I’ve come full circle with 2026 being in the same city" – clocked 25.57sec, while teammate Jessica Thompson was fourth, the most brutal position in the sport, in 25.92, missing a bronze by 0.16. Caitlin le Grange (26.33) was sixth but like Thompson, her turn at a major championships will come.

In anther final, Michael Houlie and Chris Smith finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 100m breaststroke but Houlie again led at the turn in 26.57 and admitted afterwards, “I’m a 50m swimmer”. He’s salivating about his chances in the shorter event.

The impressive Aimee Canny was one of three Team SA swimmers to qualify for the women’s 100m breaststroke final on Sunday night, and she goes in as second favourite behind Scotland’s Angharad Evans, after her 1:06.04 semi-final win. Kaylene Corbett (1:07.31) will be looking to pounce, as will Rebecca Meder (1:07.53), another who is still learning the breaststroke art at this level.

Two others in finals action on Sunday will be Le Clos who qualified, against the odds, for the 100m butterfly and how he’s managed to keep his focus with the mayhem of his 19th medal still circling, is credit to the torchbearer of the sport over the past 15 years.

Calvyn Justus has made a thrilling comeback this year and finds himself in the medals hunt for the 50m freestyle, after pulling out a PB 21.86 in the semi-finals.