Veteran swimmer Schoeman stunned the field as he swam the fastest time in the 50m butterfly. Photo: Getty Images
South Africa got off to a positive start at the 15th Fina swimming world championships yesterday.
Miles Brown advanced to his first-ever final at a major meet and Roland Schoeman and Cameron van der Burgh qualified for the semi-finals.
Veteran swimmer Schoeman stunned the field as he swam the fastest time in the 50m butterfly, a 23,02. The 33-year-old, who won the gold at the 2005 and 2007 worlds over the distance, declared himself a “happy camper” afterwards.
“It is a shade different from all the other world championships that I have had in the last six odd years. It is nice to be able to come in and be smooth and go 23,0, even though I was not executing my ideal race plan,” he said.
Unfortunately, 200m butterfly Olympic champion Chad le Clos crashed out in 23rd place with a time of 23,76 seconds.
World record holder and Olympic champion Van der Burgh qualified for the finals of the 100m breaststroke event with the seventh-fastest time.
“It is a waiting game to get to the final, that is what counts. We will see how it goes. You have to take each race as it comes. How you feel in the warm-up and then from the heats,” Van der Burgh said. – Sapa
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