Cape Town - Tatjana Schoenmaker struck a blow for women’s swimming when she posted an Olympic qualifying time in the 200m breaststroke at the fourth and final leg of the Swimming SA Grand Prix in Stellenbosch over the weekend.
The 18-year-old turned in a commanding performance on the third day of the gala dipping well below the Olympic qualifying time clocking two minutes, 26.50 seconds (2:26.50).
Schoenmaker has been teetering on the edge of making her breakthrough falling just short of qualifying for last year’s Fina World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Although she will have to post the qualifying time at the SA National Swimming Championships and Olympic trials in Durban in April, her performance suggest she will have no problem reaching the mark.
Going head-to-head with British swimmer Katie Matts, Schoenmaker opened a sizable gap over the final 100 metres touching the wall 0.44 seconds below the qualifying time and 2.13 seconds faster than her time in the heats.
Matts finished in second place with a time of 2:30.37 with Emily Visagie bagging the bronze medal posting 2:36.24.
Schoenmaker won the 100m breaststroke on Saturday in a time of 1:09.39 which is almost two seconds short of the qualifying time.
She was followed by Matts with 1:09.49 while Kaylene Corbett finished in third place in 1:09.90.
Olympic gold medallist Chad le Clos produced another world-class performance posting Olympic qualifying times in the 100m, 200m freestyle and the 200m butterfly events.
He has now posted qualifying times in four events - the 200m, 100m butterfly, 200m and 100m freestyle - over the four-legged series.
After winning the 200m butterfly and 100m freestyle in qualifying times on Saturday he did the same in the 200m freestyle yesterday posting 1:47.22.
Calvyn Justus claimed second place in 1:50.61 while Egyptian swimmer Marwan Elcamarh rounded off the podium with his 1:52.35.
Le Clos won his fourth gold in 22.69 seconds with Pretoria swimmer Douglas Erasmus touching behind him in 23.02 and Clayton Jimmie in third with 23.15.
Distance swimmer Matthew Meyer came painstakingly close to posting a qualifying time in the men’s 1500m freestyle when he touched almost 40 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
Meyer’s time of 15:16.76 was just two seconds short of the Olympic qualifying time of 15:14.77 with the second-placed Josh Dannhauser clocking 15:59.38 and Luke Erwee taking third in 16:14.49.
Jarred Crous produced a shock victory over Olympic gold medallist Cameron van der Burgh in the men’s 100m breaststroke yesterday.
The 19-year-old out-touched Van der Burgh by 0.03 seconds posting a time of 1:01.22 with the former world-record holder stopping the clock on 1:01.25. Michael Houlie finished in third place with 1:04.20.
Van der Burgh won the 50m breaststroke the day before with a time of 27.72 while Crous took second place in 27.82 and Houlie posting a third-placed time of with 28.84.
Independent Media