Women’s breaststroke legacy lives on as Meder, Corbett qualify for world champs

The women’s 200m breaststroke provided much excitement on the third night of competition at the SA National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Friday with two swimmers dipping under the qualification time for the World Championships in Singapore later this year.

The event has often provided the highlight of the national championships in recent years with four-time Olympic medallist Tatjana Smith dominating proceedings. The now-retired Smith would have been looking on with great interest as Rebecca Meder claimed the title in a time of 2:23.61 with Smith’s former training partner, Kaylene Corbett, finishing second in 2:24.70 – also a qualifying time.

Meder, who is relatively new to the breaststroke events, was pleased to have had two-time Olympic finalist Corbett pushing her all the way.

“I know that Kaylene is such a good competitor. She’s got so much experience in the 200 breast, so I know that at nationals she’ll always perform,” said Meder, who also claimed 100m breaststroke gold on the opening night of action in Gqeberha.

“I had the confidence knowing I had someone in the race going the same speed. It’s so good for the sport in general. I’m new to the 200 breaststroke, so I was really happy with that… And good that both of us are in, just to keep that breaststroke legacy going.”

Corbett explained that, despite achieving the qualifying time, she may not compete at this year’s World Championships,” choosing to focus on her Honours studies at the University of Pretoria as she rebuilds for the next Olympic Games.

“Just being at the beginning of [that cycle], it’s good for me to be in a place where I’m still qualifying and still doing the times even though I’m not as rested as I would have liked to have been,” she said.

As for Meder’s performance, Corbett added: “I’m so proud of her… It’s so nice to know that someone else is going to race with me again. It’s really nice having someone there in the call room. I’ve said that plenty of times with Tats, so I think Tatjana is also watching at home, hopefully proud of the two of us as well because it’s so nice to build on that legacy.”

Meanwhile, another notable performance on the night came from Pieter Coetzé, who dipped under the 49-second mark in the 100m freestyle for the first time. He took the gold in a time of 48.63 with Ruard van Renen second in 49.34 and Guy Brooks third in 49.39.

“I really wanted to go under 49 so that was really the only goal for tonight and I got under 49 by quite a bit so I’m very happy with that,” he said afterwards.

“I knew it was going to be close with Ruard and Guy. You never know who is going to be there on the day. It’s one of my favourite races to swim, so it’s a lot of fun every year with them.”

Erin Gallagher took the women’s 100m freestyle in a time of 54.94 seconds, with her attention now switching to her main focus – the butterfly.

“Obviously it’s not a PB, but I just wanted to come out here and race. I really had no idea where I was with my freestyle,” she said. “I’m very happy to be done with that race and I can focus on my main event – we’ll see what’s in the bag for tomorrow.”

Matt Sates secured his fourth title of the championships in the 400m individual medley, winning in a time of 4:19.24 – almost a full 10 seconds quicker than his closest rival. It was 14-year-old Caitlin Evans who secured the women’s 400m individual medley title in 5:00.16 while Matthew Randle took top honours in the men’s 200m breaststroke, winning in 2:15.27.

Earlier in the evening, there was much celebration for Down Syndrome swimmer Minke Janse van Rensburg, who once again broke her own world record in the 50m butterfly, finishing in a time of 36.59 seconds – well under the 38.02-second mark she set in Cape Town earlier this year.

National Championship action continued in Gqeberha until Sunday.