JOHANNESBURG – Cameron van der Burgh won the men’s 100 metre breaststroke final in a time of 59.89 seconds at the KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics Premier Championships, also the official Commonwealth Games trials, at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre in Durban on Sunday.
In the process, Van der Burgh booked his spot for the Commonwealth Games by going under the 1:02.46 qualifying mark.
Van der Burgh took victory ahead of Michael Houlie (1:01.98) in second and Brendan Crawford (1:03.82) in third.
Houlie will also be pleased to have made the qualifying standard.
In the men’s 200m freestyle, Chad le Clos pulled off a dominant victory in 1:48.28, making the qualifying standard by over three seconds.
Jarryd Baxter in second in a time of 1:50.79 also made the qualifying mark, with Calvyn Justus (1:55.55) missed out by just five one-hundredths of a second.
In the women’s 50m freestyle, Erin Gallagher won in 25.35, with Emma Chelius finishing runner-up in 25.66 and Olivia Nel completing the podium in 26.06. The trio all made the qualifying standard.
In the women’s 100m backstroke, Mariella Venter’s victory in 1:02.55 was enough to see her dip under the qualifying mark of 1:02.73.
The event, which runs until Thursday in Durban, will feature 466 swimmers vying for a place in the South African team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4 to 15.