Darian Townsend earned another two bronze medals to continue his fine form in the Swimming World Cup series on the opening day of the fifth leg in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday night.
The versatile South African was involved in a titanic battle in the men's 100 metres freestyle with the charismatic Anthony Ervin of the United States and Australian Tommaso D'Orsogna.
Ervin took the race out hard in a fast 22.03 seconds at the halfway mark, and the American kept going to seal a well-earned victory in 46.71, with D'Orsogna clocking 46,99, just edging out Townsend who touched in a personal best time of 47.02.
Later, in the men's 100m individual medley, Trinidad's George Bovell was in amazing form as he won in 51.20, beating Kenneth To of Australia who touched the wall in 51.53. Townsend was third in 53.04, with Hungarian Laszlo Cseh taking fourth in 53.11.
Neil Versfeld, the only other South African competing at the event, was seventh in the men's 50m breaststroke in 27.45 - his first race back after a bout of flu.
Townsend was set to tackle the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley races on Sunday's final day, while Versfeld was entered in the men's 100m breaststroke event. - Sapa