2020 SOUTH AFRICAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, October 24th – Tuesday, October 27th
- Seal Swim Centre, Pietermaritzburg, SA
- SCM (25m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Results
Wrapping up his 2020 South African Short Course Championships campaign in style was 17-year-old Matt Sates, adding another gold to his major haul over the course of the past 4 days.
Today it was the men’s 400m IM he tried on for size, with the University of Georgia commit hitting a new lifetime best of 4:11.51 to take gold. Splitting 54.99/1:06.11/1:11.45/58.96, Sates now becomes his nation’s 9th fastest performer all-time in the grueling event.
The women’s version saw another teenager in 18-year-old Rebecca Meder top the field. Meder got to the wall first in a time of 4:44.71, just outside her personal best.
Sates was in the pool again for the 50m free final, finishing 3rd in a time of 22.62. Taking the top prize was Douglas Erasmus, grabbing gold in 22.17 while 16-year-old Pieter Coetze nailed a time of 22.58 for runner-up. Erasmus is already South Africa’s 4th fastest man ever in this short course version of the 50 free, owning a PB of 21.31 from 2016.
21-year-old Erin Gallagher was the quickest women’s 50m freestyler tonight, with the national record holder producing the only sub-25 second time of the field. Hitting the wall in 24.80, her mark is outside her South African standard of 24.38 from the 2018 World Short Course Championships, but it was enough to give the Seagulls swimmer the gold here.