Africa-Press – South-Africa. Rebecca Meder wrapped up the South African Short Course Championships in Durban with another swimming world championships qualifying time on Sunday.
The 22-year-old claimed an emphatic victory in the 200m breaststroke, dipping under the 2 minute 20 mark for the first time and finishing in 2:19.77 to add to her list of events for the World Short Course Championships in Budapest from December 10 to 15.
“Today I wanted to see what I could do and try not to force the speed but let the speed carry through, and to finish on a 2:19 is incredible,” a thrilled Meder said.
“That the breaststroke is so strong shows I need to work on my other three as the medley is my main event. But I’m really happy with the breaststroke and we’ll see where it takes me.”
Earlier in the day, Emma Chelius swam the final event of her career, winning the 4x50m medley relay with Tuks teammates Kerryn Herbst, Georgia Els and Caitlin de Lange in a new South African record time of 1:50.95.
The 28-year-old enjoyed a successful international career, competing at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and African Championships.
The highlight, however, came in 2021 when she represented South Africa at the Tokyo Olympics and reached the semifinals of the 50m freestyle, breaking the national record twice, both in the heats and semifinal in the Japanese capital.
Speaking after her final race, Chelius said: “I’ve gone through the whole spectrum of emotions in the past few days leading up to this. I think I’ve processed all the bittersweet heartache of leaving the sport, so today I felt excited.
“The race went by in a blur and having my family here to support me was the cherry on top.”
While one swimmer was coming to the end of her career, another is about to kick his off at international level. Kris Mihaylov, 16, picked up his third national title of the week on Sunday, winning the 1500m freestyle in 14:57.56.
Mihaylov’s other titles came in the 200m freestyle and the 800m freestyle, dipping under the world championship qualifying time in the longer event and breaking the long-standing national record set by Ryk Neethling 24 years ago.
Neethling, who went on to win Olympic gold in Athens in 2004, hailed the rising star for his record-breaking swim.
On Saturday, Chris Smith became the sixth South African swimmer to achieve a world championship qualifying time. The 18-year-old stormed to victory in a time of 26.68 seconds to book his spot on the team.
Dipping under the qualifying time in his fourth event of the competition was US-based up-and-comer Ruard van Renen, who is coached by former SA swimmer Neil Versfeld at the University of Georgia.
While he had achieved qualifying times in the 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 50m backstroke, Van Renen’s main focus was the 100m backstroke. He made sure of swimming the required time in that event, first with a 50.64-second effort in the morning heat and then 50.97 for victory in the final.
Also adding another qualifying time to her haul was Meder, who cruised to victory in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2:08.78 but admitted afterwards she was hoping to go faster.
Earlier on Friday, Chad le Clos swam a 200m butterfly time trial and recorded another world championship qualifying time, finishing in 1:53.58. That means it was mission accomplished for the veteran star, who achieved qualifying times in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly as well as in the 100m freestyle.
On Friday, Mihaylov and 17-year-old Jessica Thompson added their names to the list of swimmers headed for the World Short Course Championships.
Mihaylov claimed victory in the 800m freestyle at the Kings Park pool in a time of 7 minutes 43.56 seconds, well under the qualifying time and four seconds clear of his nearest rival, while it was a slightly more roundabout route for Thompson.
Later in the evening, Thompson added the 50m backstroke to her list of victories in Durban, winning in a time of 26.97 seconds, not far off the 26.54 needed for another qualifying time.
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