Two African records and two South African records had been set at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships (25m short-course) heading into Thursday’s third day of competition in Budapest. Rebecca Meder, so far the outstanding South African swimmer, then added another two African records to her tally in the 100m medley heats and semi-finals.
In the last such championships held, in Melbourne in 2022, South Africa returned with five medals, three of which were gold. The gold medals were won by Chad le Clos (100m and 200m butterfly) and Matt Sates (200m individual medley), while Lara van Niekerk claimed silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke and Sates added to his tally with silver in the 400m IM.
On Thursday, the 32-year-old defending 100m butterfly champion Le Clos (pictured) finished second in his heat in 1:59.89, which saw him miss out on a place in the evening final by 0.06 seconds.
Notable absentees from these short-course (25m pool) championships are men’s backstroker Pieter Coetze, who is focused on training for next year’s long-course (50m pool) world championships in Singapore and Kaylene Corbett, while Tatjana Smith has retired.
Women’s 50m backstroke (heats): Jessica Thompson finished eighth in her heat in 27.10, which slotted her in at 21st on the overall timesheets and missing out on a spot in the semi-finals
Men’s 200m butterfly (heats): Chad le Clos finished second in his heat in 1:51.89. That left him at 10th overall and he missed out on a place in the final
Men’s 50m backstroke (heats): Ruard van Renen finished fourth in his heat in 23.29, which placed him 11th overall and through to the semi-finals
Men’s 50m backstroke (semi-finals): Ruard van Renen finished seventh in his semi-final in 23.21, which placed him 12th overall and missing out on a place in the final
Women’s 100m individual medley (heats): AFRICAN RECORD! Rebecca Meder finished third in her heat in an African record 58.55 to qualify for the semi-finals
Women’s 100m individual medley (semi-finals): AFRICAN RECORD! Rebecca Meder broke yet another African record when she closed 57.69 to finish second in her semi-final and head into Friday’s final as the 4th fastest overall
Men’s 400m freestyle (heats): Arno Kruger finished sixth in his heat in 3:45.28 to place 25th overall and miss out on a spot in the final
Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay (heats): Team SA (Hanna Roberston, Hannah Pearse, Stephanie Houtman and Milla Drakopoulos) finished fifth in their heat in 8:06.02, which wasn’t enough to see them progress to the final
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