Reid, Le Clos, van der Burgh Score Olympic Cuts At SA Trials Day 2

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (SA OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• King Aquatic Park, Durban, South Africa
• Sunday, April 10th – Saturday, April 16th
• Prelims- 10:00 am local (4 am ET, 1 am PT), Finals- 6:30 pm local (12:30 pm ET, 9:30 am PT)
• Meet Announcement and Olympic Qualifying Times
• Live Results

Special thanks to Wayne Riddin for this report.

The second evening of the South African Swimming Championships saw just three Olympic qualifying times and four Paralympic qualifying times as the nerves got the better of a few swimmers in Durban tonight.

Women’s 100 Back- Semifinals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 1:00.25

1. Mariella Venter: 1:00.97
2. Jessica Ashley-Cooper: 1:02.36
3. Nathania Van Niekerk: 1:02.69
4. Carissa Van Rooyen: 1:04.42
5. Catherine Sainsbury: 1:04.68
6. Erin Gallagher: 1:05.02
7. Gabi Grobler: 1:05.50
8. Kiara Noades: 1:05.79

Mariella Venter (16) looked the only one to threaten the Olympic QT of 1:00.25 as she took the top position with a solid 1:00.97. Jessica Ashley-Cooper (23) gave her enough opposition on the first 50m of the second semi-final to clock 1:02.36 while Nathania van Niekerk (17) was an easy winner of the first semi to take the 3^rd spot into the final in 1:02.69.

Men’s 200 Free- Semifinals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 1:47.97

1. Chad le Clos: 1:47.88*
2. Myles Brown: 1:48.05
3. Marwan Elkamash: 1:48.66
4. Sebastien Rousseau: 1:48.80
5. Calvyn Justus: 1:49.68
6. Jarryd Baxter: 1:50.22
7. Dylan Bosch: 1:51.19
8. Ruan Ras: 1:51.33

Both semi-finals produced encouraging performances with Egyptian Marwan Elkamash (22) setting the pace with a 1:48.66 followed closely by Calvyn Justus (20) in 1:49.68 and young Jaryd Baxter (17) third in 1:50.22. But the second semi saw a duel between Olympic star Chad le Clos (23) and training partner Myles Brown (23) – Le Clos taking the final few meters in his first qualifying time of 1:47.88 while Brown was just out-touched in 1:48.05.

Brown qualified in the 400 freestyle yesterday as well as the charging Sebastien Rousseau (25) in the 400 IM – Rousseau clocking the fourth fastest time with a 1:48.80. The final tomorrow could see more action.

Women’s 100 Fly- Finals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 58.74

1. Marne Erasmus: 59.92
2. Vanessa Mohr: 1:00.34
3. Rene’ Warnes: 1:01.48

Marne Erasmus (20) gave her best shot at the QT of 58.74 as she took it out in 28.31 at the 50m mark and edged ahead of Vanessa Mohr (21) in the 100 butterfly. But the final time of 59.92sec for Erasmus fell well short as well, as second placed Mohr at 1:00.34. Rene Warnes (24) stole the bronze in 1:01.48 ahead of Seychelles Felicity Passon in 1:01.52.

Men’s 100 Breast- Finals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 1:00.57

1. Cameron van der Burgh: 59.66*
2. Jarred Crous: 1:01.10
3. Craig Emslie: 1:02.33

Olympic  champion Cameron van der Burgh (27) remained consistent in his favored event racing out in 27.90 with 18 strokes and, although picking up the tempo, managed to clock a fraction faster than his semi swim, a 59.66 dash. Meanwhile, the younger Jarred Crous (19) perhaps chased too hard on the first 50m to end on a 1:01,10 and miss the QT of 1:00.57.  Craig Emslie (20) stole the minor placing by 0.04sec from Giulio Zorzi (27) with a 1:02.33.

Women’s 100 Breast- Semifinals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 1:07.85

1. Tara Nicholas: 1:08.68
2. Tatjana Schoenmaker: 1:08.72
3. Franko Jonker: 1:08.79
4. Taryn Mackenzie: 1:10.11
5. Kaylene Corbett: 1:10.48
6. Hanim Abrahams: 1:10.56
7. Justine Macfarlane: 1:12.53
8. Emily Visagie: 1:13.14

SMU’s Tara Nicholas was 0.20 slower than her heats time with a 1:08.68 in the first semifinal. The duel between Tatjana Schoenmaker and Texas A&M’s Franko Joncker, after swimming 1:08.72 and 1:08.79 respectively in the second semi, will result in a huge battle for the Olympic QT of 1:07.85 tomorrow. Schoenmaker has already done the 200m breaststroke QT a month ago in 2:26,05.

Taryn Mackenzie hit a second and a half behind the top three, swimming 1:10.11. A pair of youngsters, Kaylene Corbett (16) and Hanim Corbett (14) were close behind in 1:10.48 and 1:10.56.

Men’s 100 Back- Semifinals

Olympic Qualifying Time: 54.36

1. Christopher Reid: 53.23*
2. Jacques Van Wyk: 55.93
3. Ricky Ellis: 55.97
4. Zane Waddell: 56.19
5. Neil De Villiers: 56.32
6. Neil Fair: 57.67
7. Martin Binedell: 58.01
8. Willie Scheepers: 58.16

Christopher Reid took the first 50 out a fraction faster in 25.83sec and was “happy with being consistently up with the top backstrokers in the world!”

He was marginally slower than his morning swim, where he set his first Olympic QT of 53.12sec and break the African and South African record of 53.75sec held by Gerhard Zandberg. The semi-final time of 53.23sec still had the crowd on their feet and a faster final could still be on the cards.

Women’s 400 Free- Final

Olympic Qualifying Time: 4:09.08

1. Caitlin Kat: 4:20.19
2. Kristin Bellingan: 4:20.38
3. Kate Beavon: 4:23.26

Caitlin Kat (23) took the closely contested race by 0.19sec from a hard chasing Kristin Bellingan (18) with a slower than expected 4:20.18.

Fifteen-year-old Kate Beavon outtouched Charlise Oberholzer (16) for the third place slot in 4:23.26. Oberholzer took fourth in 4:23.29.

Paralympic Events

Alani Ferriera dropped her 1:29.50 QT in the morning down to 1:26.90 for the SB13 100 breaststroke to make it three event standards achieved so far. Earlier Kevin Paul was just 1.08 sec outside the world record in the SB9 100m breaststroke with his fastest time at the meet so far in 1:05.10. He also pulled Johann van Heerden to another QT in 1:12.64 – but it was an excited Craig Groenewald who achieved his first QT in the SB14 category in 1:12.33.