George du Rand produced the performance of the evening on the second day of the Telkom National Swimming Championships in East London on Tuesday night.
The Bloemfontein student shattered his own South African record on his way to victory in the 200m backstroke in 2:01,72.
But despite his speedy swim, his time was still 1,2 seconds slower than the qualification mark for the World Championships, which take place in Montreal later this year.
”I wanted to go a bit faster than that,” he said. ”It’s a best time, so I have to be happy, but it’s still disappointing. Hopefully I can do it in the 100m backstroke, though, because I’ll have tougher competition from Gerhard Zandberg.”
Although Du Rand was producing the record-breaking performance of the evening, the swimmers the autograph-hunters were interested in were the country’s Olympic heroes, Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling and Darian Townsend.
It was Schoeman who claimed top honours, taking gold in a time of 22,84, while Neethling finished just three 100ths of a second later in 22,87.
And Townsend and fellow Olympian Karl Thaning finished in a dead heat in 23,50.
Meanwhile, breaststroker Suzaan van Biljon once again dipped under the World Championships qualification mark (which she achieved in Monday’s semifinals), taking gold in the 100m breaststroke in 1:10,32.
Sydney Olympics silver medallist Terence Parkin won the men’s event in 1:03,81.
And it was Mandy Loots (2:13,43) and Jasper Venter (2:06,33) who took the 200m butterfly titles.
Loots’s training partner Lauren Roets topped the podium in the 50m freestyle after finishing in a time of 26,47, while Melissa Corfe just missed out on qualification in the 200m backstroke after winning in a time of 2:15,08. — Sapa