South Africa’s perennial medal hopefuls Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh will challenge for the country’s first medals at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary advancing to their respective finals last night.
Defending 200m butterfly champion Laszlo Cseh struck an early psychological blow when he surged over the final lap to touch the wall first in his heat against Le Clos.
Cseh posted the fastest time of the preliminary rounds, clocking 1:54.08 with Le Clos’ time of 1:55.90 ranking him fifth after the morning heats.
Racing against the Hungarian favourites Cseh and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Tamas Kenderesi, Le Clos got off to a flying start.
He was still in the lead at the final turn before Cseh moved past him over the final few metres to touch first in a time of 1:54.22 with Kenderesi touching second in 1:54.98.
The South African’s gaze followed Cseh as he hit the wall before racing home in a time of 1:55.09 to earn his place in the final.
Le Clos will have a battle on his hands to reclaim the title he conceded to Cseh two years ago with Japan’s Daiya Seto posting the fastest time of the semi-finals - 1:54.03.
London 2012 Olympic gold champion Cameron van der Burgh marched into the final of the 50m breaststroke where he will be in line for his sixth consecutive world championship medal in the event.
Showing age-defying form Van der Burgh posted a new South African and continental record in the morning heats when he hit the wall in a time of 26.54 seconds.
British breaststroke phenomenon Adam Peaty continued his reign of terror in the pool, breaking the world record in the sprint event twice in one day, finishing ahead of Van der Burgh in the morning’s preliminary rounds --touching first in a time of 26.10 - before he did it again in the evening’s semifinal when he became the first man in history to dip below 26 seconds.
The Olympic champion hit the wall in a new world record-time of 25.95, making him the resounding favourite for the gold and to claim a rare 50-100m breaststroke double.