2021 SOUTH AFRICAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, September 15th – Sunday, September 19th
- GC Jolliffe Pool, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
- SCM (25m)
- Results (when available)/Meet Mobile
While we saw just one national record hit the wayside through day 1 of the 2021 South African Championships, there were several notable swims that brought big-time results here in Pietermaritzburg.
The University of Georgia commit Matt Sates, set to join the Bulldogs this spring, threw down a huge lifetime best in the men’s 200m freestyle to reap his second gold of this 5-day meet.
After hitting a casual morning swim of 1:49.30 to rank 3rd, Sates turned it on tonight to scorch the field and unleash a time of 1:42.91. Opening in 50.66 and closing in 52.25, Sates slashed more than 2 seconds off of his own previous PB of 1:44.99 put up last year.
In fact, with tonight’s effort, Sates checks in as the 5th fastest South African man ever in the SCM 200 free, at just 18 years of age.
Sates also took the men’s 800m free last night in a time of 7:51.71, while he time trialed a 100m IM this evening in which he was disqualified.
Another young gun who made waves today was Olympian Pieter Coetze. The Tuks swimmer turned heads in the men’s 100m backstroke, lighting up the GC Jolliffe Pool with a lifetime best of 50.98.
Winning the race by over 3 seconds, Coetze became just the 2nd South African man ever to get under the 51-second threshold in the event. He joins national record holder George Du Rand, who owns the national standard at 50.00 from 2009.