Cape Town – Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh was South Africa’s star turn on the first day of the World Swimming Championships on Sunday, in Kazan, Russia.
He raced to victory in the 100m breaststroke semifinals to secure his gold medal bid in Monday evening’s final but he was upstaged by Great Britain’s world record-holder Adam Peaty who posted a faster time in the other semifinal.
Peaty’s semifinal time of 58.18 seconds was a championship record after Van der Burgh rewrote the record books moments earlier in the first semi with a time of 58.49. This left Van der Burgh second best in Monday’s eight-man final.
Peaty holds the world record with a time of 57.92 which was set in London in April. All in all, the championship record was bettered three times on Sunday.
Earlier on in the morning session, the 100m breaststroke stage was set when the two contenders won their heats in fine style. Peaty broke the record with a 58.52 time and Van der Burgh followed in the next heat with 58.59.
Chad le Clos, who won two medals in butterfly at the London Olympics in 2012, finished seventh in the first 50m butterfly semifinal in a time of 23.49. He failed to qualify for the final and finished 14th of 16 overall.
Earlier in the morning session, Le Clos finished his heat in fourth place in 23.45 to advance to evening’s semifinals.
South African fans will be looking for a stronger performance from the Olympic champion in the 100m and 200m butterfly events later this week.
Myles Brown finished his 400m freestyle heat in seventh place in 3:48.86 and missed out on a final berth. The freestyle specialist looked in contention earlier on in the race but faded on the final laps. - ANA