DURBAN
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:
EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">– Olympians Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh will be among the aquatic stars who will take to the water at the KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics Premier Championships, doubling as the official Commonwealth Games Trials, at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre in Durban, from Sunday until Friday.
Four-hundred-and-sixty swimmers will compete for a place in the team that will be selected to represent South Africa in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.
Straight from his fourth Fina World Cup title win, Le Clos will be aiming to secure his place at next year’s competition when he takes part in the 50, 100 and 200m butterfly as well as the 100 and 200m freestyle.
Also determined to book his place in the Commonwealth Team will be Olympic gold medallist Van der Burgh, who will race the 50 and 100m breaststroke events.
Cameron van der Burgh celebrates after winning the men's 50m breaststroke at the Doha leg of the Fina Swimming World Cup in Qatar. Photo: Xinhua/Nikku
Other contenders include the likes of Douglas Erasmus in the 50 and 100m freestyle, long-distance swimmer Matthew Meyer in the 400m freestyle and the 1 500m freestyle, as well as the up and coming talents of Luca Holtzhausen (13), Luan Grobbelaar (15), Mariella Venter (17), Hanim Abrahams (15), Erin Gallagher (18) and Dune Coetzee (15).
On the women’s side, Tatjana Schoenmaker, who recently became the first South African to win a medal (silver) at the 2017 World Student Games in Taipei, with a personal best of 2:24.61, will be aiming to better that time over the week-long event, swimming the 50, 100 and 200m breaststroke, the 200m freestyle and the 200m individual medley.
Heats get under way at 9am, with the finals from 5pm each day of the championships.