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59.7 Van Der Burgh At South African Nats: “I’m At 60% Preparation”

2017 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

While competing at the 2017 South African National Championships in Durban, 28-year-old Cameron van der Burgh clocked a super swift 100m breaststroke time of 59.73 to take his 11th national title in the event. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the event had already notched a FINA A cut last night in the semi-finals of the race, earning a solid mark of 1:00.07, but delivered a gold medal-winning result well beneath the minute barrier to check-in as the 2nd fastest swimmer worldwide this season.

2016-2017 LCM MEN 100 BREAST

AdamGBR
PEATY
07/24
57.47
2Kevin
CORDES
USA58.6407/23
3Zibei
YAN
CHN58.9204/10
4Nicolo
MARTINENGHI
ITA59.01*WJR08/23
5Kirill
PRIGODA
RUS59.0507/24
View Top 26»

Post-race, van der Burgh told SwimSwam that he is ‘excited’ with tonight’s performance, especially in light of a huge year of changes. VDB, a longtime native of Pretoria, uprooted to Capetown, training under Bobby Hurley as part of the Andrea Di Nino project. Of the new coaching arrangement, VDB says, “the new program with Bobby is proving fruitful. It’s great to collaborate with someone who shares the same excitement, same willingness to try new things.”

The South African calls his and Hurley’s program as a ‘blending of ideas’ from seasoned racer van der Burgh’s own expertise along with Hurley’s extensive training from his Club Wolverine Elite days in America, as well as his national team training in his home country of Australia.

Headed into Durban, VDB says his preparation is at a “60% level compared to what he normally would be at this point in the year”. He commented that, “coming off of World Championships [short course] in December, I was about 8-9k (~19 lbs) over my racing weight”. As such, tonight’s time, which secured van der Burgh’s 6th World Championships appearance, was notably encouraging.

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Bigly
7 years ago

19 lbs over racing weight. Giving Koch a run for his money.

Bakstroke
7 years ago

It’s a race for second

Billabong
Reply to  Bakstroke
7 years ago

I’ll second that ? But for CVDB, silvers are still worth chasing, as his golden years are behind him.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Billabong
7 years ago

The us guys will give him a run for his money this summer …. silver ? or bronze ?

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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