George du Rand saved the best for last on the final day of the Telkom South African Short-Course Championships on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Bloemfontein bettered his own national and continental record on his way to winning the 100m backstroke.
Du Rand’s time of 53,20 seconds saw him shaving 0,33 of a second off the previous record he set during last year’s World Cup series meet in Durban.
”I think my time could have been faster if I hadn’t entered so many events, because it started to catch up on me today,” he said after also claiming silver behind Robin Francis (1:59,32) in the 200m individual medley later in the afternoon.
Du Rand left Pietermaritzburg with a haul of four golds, two silvers and one bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Terence Parkin and Suzaan van Biljon proved their status as the top breaststrokers in the country after completing their hat-trick of titles. Parkin won the 200m breaststroke title in 2:10,70, while Van Biljon took the 100m breaststroke gold in 1:09,17.
Although not tapered for this event, Melissa Corfe surprised herself by winning five gold medals. She added both the 200m freestyle (2:00,43) and the 200m backstroke (2:12,64) to her collection on Sunday.
Veteran Mandy Loots overcame her shaky start to the competition by winning the 100m butterfly (59,97 seconds) and the 200m individual medley (2:15,66), taking her total to four individual golds.
Without Du Rand taking part in the 100m freestyle (having decided to scratch to focus on the backstroke a bit later in the afternoon), it was left to Karl Thaning and Eugene Hulley to battle it out for the gold, and it was Thaning who reached the wall in 50,01 seconds to take his second title of the championships.
Other gold medallists of the afternoon were David van der Bijl, who won the 200m butterfly in 2:00,85, and Troyden Prinsloo, who bagged his third gold in the 1 500m freestyle in 15:08,55. — Sapa