OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kuala Lumpur | Thursday 7.30pm.
FREESTYLE artist Ryk Neethling picked up South Africa’s second Commonwealth Games swimming medal when he finished second in the men’s 1500m event in 15 minutes 02,88 seconds in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night. He broke both a South African and African record for the event.
Although he beat Australian stars Kieren Perkins and Daniel Kowalski after a neck-and-neck race over the last lap, he failed to catch winner Australian grant Hacket who finished in 14:50,92.
Neethling started the race in fifth place and soon worked his way to fourth, keeping within a length of Perkins throughout. He pulled into third spot on the second-last turn, and into second on the final turn, when he, Perkins and Australian Daniel Kowalski raced the final 50m. Perkins was third in 15:03,00 and Kowalski fourth in 15:03,40.
Neethling’s previous SA and African record was 15:14,36.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Charlene Wittstock missed out on a medal by 11 hundredths of a second as she touched a fraction too late and finished in fourth place in the women’s 50m freestyle. She clocked 26,18 seconds in the final, improving on her heat time of 26,31 — the third-best time of the morning.
Theo Verster, who broke his national 200m butterfly record on Wednesday night, did the same to his 200m individual medley mark when he claimed fourth place in 2:03,68 seconds. His previous best was 2:04,94. South Africa’s deaf teen star Terence Parkin was seventh in 2:05,67. Australian winner Matthew Dunn set a new Commonwealth record of 2:00,26.