World short-course champ Suzaan van Biljon held off challenges from breaststroke star Cameron van der Burgh and freestyle sensation Melissa Corfe.
Tensions in South Africa’s swimming camp boiled over on Sunday as Roland Schoeman took a massive swipe at Gerhard Zandberg.
Jean Basson in the 200m freestyle offered some Olympic hope for a first SA medal on a day that saw the US victorious in the 4x100m relay final.
South Africa’s swim stars are set to gather in Cape Town this weekend for the final national swimming camp in home waters before they take up the challenge in a series of international galas prior to competing at the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
Gerhard Zandberg kept South Africa’s fast-lane medal hunt on course with his 50m backstroke heats effort, coupled with fine performances by Melissa Corfe, Suzaan van Biljon and William Diering, at the Fina World Short-Course Swimming Championships in Manchester on Friday.
Gerhard Zandberg’s South African swimming contingent was caught up in the chaos at Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport in London, which caused the swimmers to miss their connection flight to Manchester. The terminal opened recently only to descend into disorder as its baggage-handling system broke down.
The Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships came to a thrilling climax at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Sunday evening with an unprecedented 20 swimmers posting Olympic ”A” qualifying times. It was a fitting ending to a sensational Olympic trial for the country’s swimmers.
Someone neglected to remind the participants at the South African National Aquatic Championship in Durban about the oft-repeated truism that the whole sports thing is more about taking part and less about winning. Perhaps even if someone had, the swimmers would not have been too bothered to listen.