Johannesburg – Chad Ho, Chad le Clos and Cameron van der der Burgh collected five medals for South Africa at the Fina World Championships in Kazan which ended on Sunday.
Leading the way for the Rainbow Nations was Le Clos who collected a silver in the 200 metre butterfly before claiming gold in the 100m butterfly to end off his championship with a double medal tally.
Van der Burgh won a pair of silver medals in the 100m and 50m breaststroke events.
The first medal for South Africa, however, came in the 5km Open Water race when Ho secured top spot in a time 55:17.60 on the first day of competition.
The men’s Water Polo team also produced one of the highlights of the competition as they finished in 12th place out of the 16 competing teams, a first for a South African side.
Swimming SA’s CEO, Shaun Adriaanse congratulated all the winners and participants for their performances.
“We have seen an overall improved performance across the board from our Synchronised swimmers, Divers, Water Polo teams, Open Water swimmers and swimmers,” said Adriaanse.
“We have managed to equal the number of medals we achieved from the 2013 World Championships, with five medals in total and improved with having two gold and three silver medals as compared to two gold, two silver and one bronze from the 2013 Championships.
“The standout performances came from our swimmers with the Gold Medal Performances from Chad Ho and Chad le Clos and silvers from Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh. What is important for us now is that we have a clear picture of what needs to be done in the last stretch to Rio.” - ANA