durban: Birthday boy Chad le Clos did not disappoint his family and friends who came out in full force to support him as the Olympic gold medallist posted qualifying times for the Rio Games in both the 200m freestyle and butterfly last night.
Celebrating his 24th birthday, Le Clos received the 200m freestyle gold medal as an early evening gift with a time of 1:47.88 before clocking the fourth fastest time in the world this year in the 200m butterfly with 1:55.61 in the semi-final.
“That was tiring, I am happy, and finally I got below 1:56. Tomorrow I will do the same, but hopefully come back quicker,” Le Clos said.
“It will be different at the Olympics, for me it is just about getting the right movement.”
While Le Clos had reason to rejoice it was disappointment for his training partner Myles Brown who narrowly missed out, touching in second place with a time of 1:48.05 with Egyptian swimmer Marwan El Kamash bagging the bronze medal in 1:48.66.
Le Clos described the 200m freestyle final as a “scrappy dogfight” as he finally got one over Brown, who beat him in last year’s race for the title.
“It is just about a bit of personal proud because he was chasing me and it was a bit of a derby,” Le Clos said.
Although Brown already earned his ticket to the Games in the 400m freestyle he lamented missing out in the 200m event by a fraction.
“I was very confident last night (Monday) where I missed it by point-one, I definitely thought I’d get it tonight,” Brown said.
“Maybe I just got caught up in the race, instead of focusing on getting the times.”
Backstroke sensation Christopher Reid posted his third Olympic qualifying time, winning the 100m breastroke with a time of 54.02 seconds.
He was followed by Zane Waddel in 56.19 with Jacques van Wyk finishing third with 56.25. - Cape Times