Pieter Coetzé delivered another torpedo at the SA championships in Gqeberha on Thursday morning as he posted another personal best, this time in the men’s 50m backstroke.

A little more than 12 hours after lowering his own national 100m backstroke mark, the Pretoria matric pupil burnt through the Newton Park pool as he clocked 24.52 sec.

He is close enough to take a swing at the South African record in the evening finals, the 24.34 set by Gerhard Zandberg in 2009. The only other SA swimmer to have gone faster than Coetzé was the now-retired Zane Waddell, the world champion in this event in 2019, who went 24.43. 

Coetzé’s 50m effort was well inside the 25.16 qualifying time for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July. Swimming SA accepts qualifying in non-Olympic events, notably the 50m backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, only if the swimmer makes it in races on the Games roster, as Coetzé did in the 100m backstroke. 

The rule was imposed after SA won three 50m medals at the 2007 world championships, but nothing at the 2008 Olympics. 

Ethan du Preez got the better of veteran Chad le Clos in the 200m butterfly heats, going clear on the final lap to set the quickest time of the morning, 1 min 59.94 sec. Le Clos was second in 2:00.70.

In the evening their focus will be the 1:56.71 qualifying time for Tokyo.

Andrew Ross set the pace in the men’s 200m individual medley, winning his race in a 2:03.12 personal best to take the favourite’s No.4 lane from defending champion Matthew Sates, who went 2:03.46 in a different heat.

But Sates will remain the favourite in the evening, given his 1:57.43 best last year. The A-qualifying time is 1:59.53.

Rebecca Meder was the fastest in the women’s 200m individual medley heats, clocking 2 min 13.26 sec, not far outside the 2:12.98 mark needed to secure her ticket to Japan.

Olivia Nel was the fastest in the women’s 50m backstroke in 28.75, and Lizanne Viljoen was the quickest in the women’s 200m butterfly heats in 2:17.48.