Tatjana Smith Rips 1:05.41 100 Breast Day 5 Of South African Nats

2024 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• Monday, April 8th – Saturday, April 13th
• Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
• Results

Day 5 of the 2024 South African National Championships saw 25-year-old Erin Gallagher race her way to her second national record of the competition.

Gallagher already made noise in the non-Olympic 50m fly, registering a winning effort of 25.59 on day one of the meet to set the tone.

This evening, Gallagher touched in a speedy 57.32 in the 100m fly to grab the gold and qualify for the Paris 2024 Games.

She earned the sole result of tonight’s field under the 1:00 barrier, with Trinity Hearne hitting 1:00.05 and 16-year-old Hannah Mouton clocking 1:02.17.

Gallagher opened in 26.86 and closed in 30.46 to overwrite her own previous South African national standard of 57.59 logged at this year’s World Championships. That prior performance comprised splits of 26.94/30.65 with Gallagher coming away with the bronze in Doha.

Both performances clear the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 57.92 needed for the Olympic Games.

The men’s 100m fly saw Olympic champion Chad Le Clos come up short of qualification, with the 32-year-old touching in 52.07.

He and 20-year-old Matt Sates turned in identical times in tonight’s final, with Sates also clocking 52.07 to miss the Olympic QT of 51.67.

Already an Olympic qualifier in the women’s 200m breast, 26-year-old Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker) followed suit in the 100m breast tonight in Gqeberha.

Smith ripped a time of 1:05.48 to take the gold, beating the field by well over a second in the process. Next to the wall was 50m breast national record holder Lara van Niekerk who nabbed silver in 1:07.16 and Kaylene Corbett bagged bronze in 1:07.83.

Smith was slightly quicker in the morning, producing a time of 1:05.41 but both easily dipped under the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 1:06.7 needed for Paris. Both outings represent the two-time Olympic silver medalist’s swiftest performances since the 2020 Olympic Games.

Smith’s Prelim Splits – 30.82/34.59 = 1:05.41

Smith’s Final Splits – 30.61/34.87 = 1:05.48

Tatjana Smith‘s (nee Schoenmaker’s) Top 5 LCM 100 Breast Performances

1. 1:04.82 – 2020 Olympic Games (heats)
2. 1:05.07 – 2020 Olympic Games (semi-finals
3. 1:05.22 – 2020 Olympic Games
4. 1:05.41 – 2024 South African National Championships (heats)
5. 1:05.48 – 2024 South African National Championships

She ranks #2 in the world on the season with only China’s Tang Qianting holding a quicker mark in 1:05.27 from this year’s World Championships.

20-year-old Matthew Randle took the men’s 100m breast in a time of 1:01.81.

After nearly making the World Aquatics Olympic Qualifying Time in the individual women’s 200m free earlier in the competition, the University of Virginia swimmer made it happen as a relay lead-off.

Racing on the Western Cape team’s women’s 4x200m free relay, Canny clocked a time of 1:56.80, easily dipping under the 1:57.26 cut needed for Paris.

Canny split 27.52/29.46/30.08/29.74 to establish a new lifetime best and qualify for the Games. Look for a subsequent post on her achievement.

South African Olympic Qualifiers Through Day 5 of Trials

• Pieter Coetze – Men’s 100m back, 200m back
• Tatjana Smith – Women’s 200 breast
• Kaylene Corbett – Women’s 200m breast
• Erin Gallagher – Women’s 100m fly
• Aimee Canny – Women’s 200m free