Suzaan van Biljon has come a long way since winning her first national title as a plucky 14-year-old.
And on Wednesday night she capped off a great season, which has included Commonwealth Games bronze and World Short Course silver, by winning the 100m breaststroke title at the Telkom South African National Championships in Durban.
Van Biljon swam 1:09,38 to finish well ahead of Daniella Zaverdinos (1:12,32) and Claire Archibald (1:12,78), and with her 18th birthday only a week away had plenty to celebrate.
”I felt quite bad in the water tonight but am pleased with that time,” she admitted afterwards. ”We only had two days after we arrived back from Shanghai before coming here, so I think my body is more tired than I realise,” she added.
”It’s great to win my third title in the 100m breaststroke. There has been such a big change since I won my first one four years ago. I have moved to Pretoria [from Bloemfontein] and have had three coaches in the meantime, and I have been very surprised at how quickly my times have dropped since January last year.”
Van Biljon still has the 50m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley to come, but described the rest of the meet as a ”fun gala”, before rushing off to watch her friend and teammate William Diering winning the men’s 100m breaststroke in an impressive 1:02,46.
Meanwhile, another of the country’s Commonwealth Games medallists, George du Rand, put in his usual slick performance in the 200m backstroke, which he won in 2:00,91. Chris King was second in 2:06,34 and Rohan Jacobs third in 2:06,89.
”I was hoping for somewhere around this time, so I’m happy, but obviously it would have been nice to go under two minutes,” Du Rand said after the race.
”I’ve done a lot of racing over the last two months, though, so to be around my best time is satisfactory. I am still feeling surprisingly good, although today my body was a bit sore,” he said, adding that he is planning to still defend his 100m butterfly title at this meet.
Earlier in the evening, Lauren Roets powered her way to victory in the 50m freestyle in 26,20 seconds, while Gerhard Zandberg took the men’s title in 23,07.
Melissa Corfe claimed her second win of the competition by claiming the 200m backstroke title in 2:14,68. Up and coming 16-year-old Keri Shaw surprised veteran Mandy Loots (who has also come off a long international season) by winning the 200m butterfly in 2:14,48. Loots was second in 2:14,88 and Christy Lategan third in 2:15,58.
In the men’s race it was Ryan de Klerk who took top honours in 2:04,69, with 16-year-old Western Province swimmer Rousseau Kluever second in a new South African age-group record of 2:05,00. Wesley Gilchrist (who equalled the same age-group record in the morning heats) was third in 2:05,68.
Multiple world-record holder Tadhg Slattery topped the podium in the disabled 100m breaststroke, winning in 1:37,20, while Theresa Goh of Singapore took the women’s title in 2:08,96. — Sapa