NAPLES – Zane Waddell won South Africa’s third gold medal on Sunday night at the 30th Summer Universiade at the Scandone Swimming Pool in Napoli, Italy.
After winning both the heats and the semifinals of the 50m backstroke, Waddell was more than happy to share the gold medal with the USA’s Justin Ress when they both touched the wall in 24.48, while the bronze medal went to Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich in 24.94.
Waddell also finished 22nd in the morning heats of the 100m freestyle in 50.39 ahead of Eben Vorster, who concluded the event in 48th place in 51.93.
In the semifinals of the 200m breaststroke, both Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett secured a spot in Monday's final, with Schoenmaker finishing first in 2:23.89 and Corbett fourth in 2:25.57.
Tayla Lovemore also successfully qualified for Monday night’s final of the 100m butterfly after she topped the semifinals in 58.57 ahead of Germany’s Lisa Hoepink in 58.93 and the USA’s Dakota Luther in 59.02.
Men’s 50m Backstroke Swimming Final Results 🏊♀🏊♂:
🥇Justin RESS (USA)
🥇Zane WADDELL (RSA)
🥉Grigory TARASEVICH (RUS) #Napoli2019 #ToBeUnique #Universiade @USSAstudent @USATeam_ pic.twitter.com/6RuCBt5f1r
— FISU (@FISU) July 7, 2019
In the morning heats session of the 800m freestyle, Brent Szurdoki and Joshua Dannhauser finished 15th and 17th in 8:10.10 and 8:13.57, respectively.