Roland Schoeman kept Swimming SA’s statisticians busy as he smashed two African records on the second day of the four-day Telkom South African Short-Course Championships, held at the Delville Swimming Pool in Germiston on Friday.
Lyndon Ferns’s two-year-old continental 50m butterfly mark of 22,84 seconds was assigned to the history books when Schoeman clocked 22,74 in the morning heats.
In the evening session, the Arizona-based Olympic star showed the short-course speed that the crowd had come to see as he bettered his own African record of 20,98 to a new standing of 20,87 in the 50m freestyle.
Garth Tune proved that he is on the brink of taking his short-course swimming career to new heights as he collected double gold in winning the 50m backstroke in 24,47 seconds and the 100m butterfly in 52,72.
Durbanite Kathryn Meaklim also made a double trip to the medal podium, following triumphs in the 200m breaststroke (2:28,56) and the 400m freestyle (4:12,42).
Chanelle van Wyk, one of South Africa’s leading black female swimmers, showed a fine stint of short-course swimming form as she claimed gold in the 100m backstroke in 1:00,75.
Three-time Olympian Mandy Loots was in a class of her own in the 50m butterfly, winning in 27,03. — Sapa