Cape Town – Chad le Clos got a taste of what to expect at the Rio Olympics in the fourth and final leg of the Swimming SA Grand Prix series in Stellenbosch yesterday when he posted Games qualifying times in both the 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly.
The Olympic gold medalist has now posted qualifying times in four events – the 200m, 100m butterfly, 200m and 100m freestyle – and will have to do so again at the SA National Swimming Championships and Olympic trials in Durban next month.
The star swimmer is still contemplating whether he will add the blue-riband 100m freestyle event to his repertoire at the Games.
The 100m freestyle semi-final and the 200m butterfly final are on the same day and he will have to decide whether it would be viable to do both or scratch one of the events.
Le Clos clocked 48.92 seconds in the 100m freestyle yesterday reaching the Olympic mark of 48.99sec.
He boasts a personal best of 48.16sec posted at the Fina Swimming World Cup in France last year.
At last year’s Fina World Championships in Russia, Le Clos advanced to the final of the 200m freestyle where he finished in a creditable sixth place.
While the 100m freestyle title has its prestige, Le Clos will be looking to defend his 200m butterfly title against American swimming icon Michael Phelps and Hungarian prospect Laszlo Cseh.
South Africa’s chances of assembling a 4x100m men’s relay team is looking increasingly slim with the rest of the swimmers battling to dip below 50 seconds.
Calvyn Justus finished second in 50.37sec with Clayton Jimmie bagging bronze (50.43sec).
Le Clos again dipped below the qualifying standard in the 200m butterfly in 1:56.60. Brendan Levy touched in second place with 2:03.45 while Alard Basson claimed third place in 2:05.04.
Cameron van der Burgh won the 50m breaststroke clocking 27.72, with Jarred Crous taking second place in 27.82 and Michael Houlie rounding of the podium in third with 28.84.
Ayrton Sweeney posted a winning time of 2:14.81 in the men’s 200m breaststroke with Crous clinching his second silver medal in 2:16.55 while Slovenia’s Thomas Klobbucnik’s took third place in 2:20.60. Vanessa Mohr won the women’s 100m butterfly in 1:00.21, almost a second-and-a-half short of the qualifying time. She was followed by Jessica Ashley-Cooper (1:01.71) and third-placed Rene Warnes in 1:03.93.
Karin Prinsloo won the 200m freestyle in 2:01.46 ahead of British swimmer Holly Hibbot who clocked 2:03.67 with compatriot Lucy McKenzie taking bronze in 2:04.73.
Prinsloo is still a second-and-a-half off the Olympic qualifying time.
– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT