BUDAPEST – Chad le Clos won the 200m butterfly gold medal at the world championships on Wednesday after defeating home-crowd favourite Laszlo Cseh, the defending champion, in Budapest.
South Africa’s Le Clos, the 2012 Olympic champion, clocked one minute 53.33 seconds, with Hungary’s Cseh 0.39 seconds behind, taking silver and Japan’s Daiya Seto earning bronze at 0.88.
Having won the world title in 2013, Le Clos took silver behind Cseh two years ago in Kazan.
“It was an emotional race, before, during and after it,”
said Le Clos, who had braced himself for a raucous atmosphere at the Duna
Arena.
The noise was near-deafening as the crowd roared on Cseh and
Tamas Kenderesi, who finished fourth.
“I knew it was going to be difficult, with everyone cheering
for the two Hungarians,” said Le Clos. “I’m very humbled to have come out on top and reclaim the gold medal that I lost last year,” he added, referring to his fourth-placed finish in the 2016 Olympic final.
“I’m still happy with the second-place, the time is quite good to get the silver medal,” said Cseh, 31, who has battled Le Clos in recent years, and was roared on by the crowd at the Duna Arena.
His winning time of 1:53.33 is his fastest since setting his South African and African record in London 2012. https://t.co/YDc5vyQQaa
— Ockert de Villiers (@ockertde) July 26, 2017
“It’s great. I think if anyone can beat me, it is normal that it is Chad, because he’s one of the best in the world, and it’s always great to race against him.”
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh grabbed bronze in the 50m breaststroke on Wednesday.
Britain’s world record holder Adam Peaty narrowly missed out on another best time as he won gold to complete the sprint double.
Peaty, already a winner in the 100m, clocked 25.99 seconds, just 0.04 short of his record-setting time in Tuesday’s semi-finals, with Brazil’s Joao Gomes Junior taking silver, 0.53 behind.
Van der Burgh finished third, 0.61 seconds behind.
6th consecutive World Championship medal for @Cameronvdburgh.First time was 10 years ago in Melbourne. Incredible consistency from the champ
— Ryk Neethling (@RykNeethling) July 26, 2017