Tuesday, 10 August 2010 08:44
Women's Day delight for swimmers Van Wyk and Vorster
On the final day of the Telkom SA Short Course Championships, it is only fitting that two ladies who had been snapping at the qualification standards for the World Short Course Championships would book their places on the team on Women’s Day yesterday.
Chanelle Van Wyk had twice posted qualifying times, but Swim SA have stressed in their selection criteria that these times need to be posted in the finals. Van Wyk was well under the required time in the 100m Backstroke heats, but was unable to reproduce that time in the finals, and in fact suffered a surprise defeat. She then did the same in the 50m Backstroke, qualifying in the heats. This time though she was able to touch the wall in the final in 28.21sec – just under the 28.33sec required by Swim SA.
In the ladies 200m Freestyle, Leone Vorster was just over a second off the qualification time in the morning heats. In the finals, she finished in 1:57.18 well inside the World Short Course Championships qualification time of 1:58.27, a huge roar erupted at the poolside as she punched the air with delight. Jessica Pengelly, after having already set a qualifying time on day 1 in the 400m Individual Medley, sneaked in a 2:13.48 in the 200m Individual Medley to also avail herself in that event.
Women’s Day would not be complete without Natalie Du Toit contributing to the headlines again. In this mornings heat, Du Toit clocked 1:02.56 for the 100m Freestyle SM 9 Category, taking almost 3 seconds off the previous record of Annabellie Wiliams (1:05.13) set in 2007. Du Toit improved on that time in the finals in the evening 1:02.27 for World Records number 7 and 8 over the four days.
Cameron van der Burgh is not the World Record Holder in the 50 and 100m Breaststroke (short course) for nothing and he showed just why he is so potent in the 50m final today with a winning time 27.14sec. Van der Burgh is currently ranked number one in the world in both 50 and 100m Breaststroke short course events.
Gerhard Zandberg also made short work of the 24.88sec needed in the 50m backstroke, winning in 24.59sec; whilst Darian Townsend is now eligible for both the 100 and 200m Individual Medley after winning today’s 200m IM final in 1:58.08.
There was relief for George Du Rand as he made sure of his spot in the team to Dubai with a 1:55.36 win in the 200m Backstroke.
In the final race of the Championships Heerden Herman added his name to the list of World Short Course Championships qualifiers with a workman like performance in the 1500m Freestyle. He swam 15:01.10 comfortably inside the required 15:06.84 set by Swim SA
That brings the total qualifiers for the World Short Course Championships to 16.
WSC QUALIFIERS
ROLAND SCHOEMAN 50M FLY
GRAEME MOORE 50M FLY
DARIAN TOWNSEND 100M IM/200M IM
MANDY LOOTS 200M FLY
CHAD LE CLOS 400M IM
GERHARD ZANDBERG 100M BACK/100M IM/50M BACK
WILLIAM DIERING 200M BREAST
NEIL VERSFELD 200M BREAST
JESSICA PENGELLY 400M IM/200M IM
KATHRYN MEAKLIM 400M IM
CAMERON VAN DER BURGH 100M/50M BREASTSTROKE
WENDY TROTT 800M FREE/400M FREE
CHANELLE VAN WYK 50M BACK
HEERDEN HERMAN 1500M FREE
GEORGE DU RAND 200M BACK
LEONE VORSTER 200M FREE
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