South Africa’s Matt Sates is coming off of a successful run at the 2023 Lausanne Swim Cup which took place late last month.
The 19-year-old former Georgia Bulldog pulled down four individual gold medals, winning the 200m free (1:47.46), 400m free (3:50.45), 200m IM (1:59.94) and 400m IM (4:18.86) events.
Instead of heading back to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to train with long-time coach Wayne Riddin, Sates took a small detour to land in Pretoria. As the teen has done in 2021 and 2022, Sates is visiting coach Rocco Meiring Tuks Swimming Club at the University of Pretoria.
Tuks is home to Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker, Commonwealth Games champion Pieter Coetze and more.
Meiring told SwimSwam this week, “He [Sates] is still a member of the Seals Swim Club – this club is known to have their members train in different training groups around the world, based on what their needs are at different stages of their preparation.
“I turn, I am happy to allow Matt to train with the TUKS squad while he is in Pretoria because he lifts everyone’s game when he is in the pool.”
Meiring said that Sates has been training with TUKS since early January and the length of his stay will become clearer by mid-April.
Former Bulldog with NO Georgia academic credits?
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