Cameron van der Burgh easily won the 100m breaststroke in Durban yesterday morning, but more important were the smiles he flashed afterwards.
His 1min:01.79sec is considerably slower than the 58.46 world record he owns, but then again, this grand prix gala was never about times.
"The morning finals make things tough," said Van der Burgh.
His Tuks club finished top of the standings, ahead of Johannesburg-based Waterborn and Seagulls from Pinetown.
The two-gala grand prix series had morning finals, forcing swimmers to go faster in the mornings to get used to the high-pressure heats they face at international events.
National coach Graham Hill said the galas - the first of the series was in Stellenbosch last weekend - had been useful.
"They need to race. Normally these people only race each other at nationals [in April]. "It's opened a lot of people's eyes. If you're not ready now, there is tweaking that can be done. You can still be ready by nationals."
Hill gave words of encouragement to Leith Shankland, who went nearly a full second faster, helping Seagulls win the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay yesterday, than he did while winning the 100m freestyle final the day before.
Other promising youngsters to win yesterday were Tatjana Schoenmaker (50m and 200m breaststroke) and Marlies Ross (400m freestyle), who are both 17.