Cape Town - Swimming SA (SSA) are looking to improve the general standard of competition in the country and ensure the sport is not only a two-man show dominated by Cameron van der Burgh and Chad le Clos.
The Olympic gold medallists have almost singlehandedly carried swimming in the country in recent years where they have claimed silverware at major championships.
The introduction of the local four-legged Grand Prix that will kick off in Nelspruit over the weekend aims to create an opportunity for the country’s top swimmers to reach international standard.
SSA high-performance manager Dean Price said the objective of the series that include galas in Stellenbosch, Durban, and Port Elizabeth was to create an opportunity for future swimming talent to emerge.
“The general standard needs to be raised by a lot, we have to somehow improve sport in the country in general, and ensure we get more people to a higher level,” Price said.
“That is why we are doing things like this (Grand Prix) like the rest of the world to try and get our swimming to a higher level and ensure we don’t get stuck in the old ways.
“We don’t want people to repeat the same thing they do all the time, so we have to keep up with the trends of world sport and that is competing at a high level on a regular basis.”
The weekend’s gala will be headlined by Le Clos, who will be swimming the 100m and 200m freestyle, as well as the 100m and 200m butterfly.
Last year, only five male swimmers qualified for the Fina World Championships in Kazan, Russia with Le Clos (200m butterfly silver, 100m butterfly gold) and Van der Burgh (50m and 100m breaststroke silver) the only South Africans to finish on the podium.
The 100m freestyle should provide for one of the highlights at the Nelspruit gala, with 4x100m freestyle relay Commonwealth Games silver medallists Calvin Justus, Clayton Jimmie and Caydon Muller lining up against Le Clos.
Commonwealth Games 4x200m freestyle relay bronze medallist Myles Brown will also take part in the tussle while he will feature in the 200m and 400 freestyle, too.
The men’s 100m freestyle is high on SSA’s list of priorities with an eye on forming a competitive 4x100m relay team for the Olympic Games.
Le Clos had the sixth fastest time in the world in the 100m freestyle last year with the 48.16 seconds he posted at the Moscow leg of the Fina World Cup in August.
The rest of the South African freestyle swimmers lag behind in terms of international standards and they need to record sub-49 second times to make a 4x100m relay team a reality.
“We want to see who the potential guys are and we expect some good racing among the guys and we have a couple that are really doing well,” Price said.
“We would like to see a few more make the step up so it will be quite exciting to see over the next couple of days.
“If you look at world swimming you’ve got to be competitive, and if we can’t do that we are not going to waste our time.”
Ayrton Sweeney, who made his debut at last year’s World Championships, and Jarred Crous will slog it out for breaststroke supremacy in the absence of Van der Burgh with the duo set to do battle over 100m and 200m.
The gala will also give SSA an opportunity to gauge the health of women’s swimming which has been in a slump over the last few years.
Last year, women’s swimmers failed to qualify for the World Championships which could be the case at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“We have the talent but we have to ensure we create opportunities for kids to progress, so we are trying to do that and it is up to the swimmers and their coaches to make the best of it,” Price said.
Weekend Argus