JOHANNESBURG - Chad le Clos bagged his third medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia where he clinched the 100m freestyle silver yesterday morning.
The South African butterfly king finally got a chance to compete for a medal in the 100m freestyle final at a major championship, thanks to a favourable programme.
Le Clos shared the silver with Rio Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers, with the exact same time and a new personal best of 48.15 seconds.
Scotland’s Duncan Scott spoilt Australia’s hopes of a clean sweep of the podium bywinning the race in a time of 48.02.
“I am very happy, I am very proud, and it was very close, I could see him coming behind me and was like ‘please no, please no’ but I am happy with the swim,” Le Clos said.
“It is a personal best time for me and you can’t complain about a PB I had a great race but I tightened up and over-extended a little too much.”
Le Clos has been in fine form at the Games, except for a small snag in the 200m freestyle final where he finished in seventh place.
He won South Africa’s first gold medal in the pool when he raced to victory in the 50m butterfly on Thursday, before he slaughtered his 200m butterfly final to claim his third consecutive gold medal in his pet event on Saturday.
South Africa will be looking to make history when he gets in the pool on Monday for the 100m butterfly final.
He played around in his 100m butterfly semi-final where he finished second behind James Guy of England as he posted a time of 52.56.
Perennial medallist Cameron van der Burgh, who won his third 100m breaststroke medal over three Commonwealth Games with a bronze on Saturday, looks set for another podium place in the sprint 50m breaststroke event.
Humbled to be first man in history to swim 3 consecutive races 2010/2014/2018 thanfull to everyone for the support ❤️❤️🇿🇦🇿🇦🥇🥇 pic.twitter.com/udtFb1ET7G
— Chad Le Clos (@chadleclos) April 7, 2018
Van der Burgh will be looking to claim a piece of history going after his third consecutive gold medal in the event after he clocked the second fastest time of the semis as he won his race in 26.95.
He will be joined in the final by fellow South Africans Michael Houlie and Brad Tandy, who raced in a fast semi-final that featured world record-holder Adam Peaty.
Peaty poses the biggest threat to Van der Burgh’s attempt at a golden three-peat after he clocked a new Games record of 26.49.
Houlie finished in fourth place with a time of 27.64, with Tandy earning his place in the final by finishing fifth in a time of 27.99.
“I have the final and I am feeling good, I am feeling comfortable and excited for what is to come,” Van der Burgh said.
“The most important thing is to come and give my best performance. That is the best anyone can do and that is what the Games are all about.
“I am confident that I can give my best performance.”
Meanwhile, Erin Galagher set a new South African and African 100m freestyle record to book her place in Monday's final.
Gallagher improved Karin Buys’ previous record by 0.1, touching the wall first in a star-studded semi-final to post a time of 54.38.
Later she featured in the 50m butterfly final but had to be content with a seventh place in a time of 26.84.
Tatjana Schoenmaker, like in the women’s 200m breaststroke the day before, produced another smashing swim when she won her semi-final by a healthy margin.
She stopped the clock just 0.13 off Penny Heyns’ national and continental record with a time of 1:06.65 to set her up nicely for the final.