Pieter Coetzé torpedoed the world’s best backstrokers as he raced to gold in the 100m event at the world championships in Singapore on Tuesday, claiming South Africa’s first medal of the gala.
The race featured the Olympic 100m and 200m backstroke champions and while it was neck-and-neck for 75m, when Coetzé put the hammer down his rivals were unable to respond.
The 21-year-old touched in 51.85sec — equalling the world’s third-fastest time achieved in this event — with Italian Thomas Ceccon, the owner of the 51.60 world record and gold medallist from the 2024 Paris Games, second in 51.90 and Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard third in 51.92.
Hungarian Hubert Kos, the Olympic 200m backstroke champion, was fourth in 52.20.
Just more than a week ago Coetzé became the first swimmer in two years to dip under 52 seconds in the 100m backstroke when he won the World Student Games gold in 51.99.
And on Tuesday he went even quicker, dragging two more men with him below the mark.
Coetzé’s potential has been obvious since he made the senior national team for the Tokyo Olympics as a 16-year-old.
He was always strong on top of the water, but his underwater work and turns needed work.
When he came off the wall almost simultaneously with the front-runners it was obvious Coetzé was going to make the podium.
“I thought it would happen eventually, it was just a matter of [when], but it feels amazing. I can’t say it was expected, it was a gamble doing World University Games before this but so far it’s working well,” said Coetzé, adding later that the Universiade competition had helped.
“The University Games prepped me well. The guys went fast there as well. But I’m over the moon. It was anyone’s game [in Singapore]. I knew going into it and to get away with the win is awesome,” added the University of Pretoria psychology student, who looked calm as he made his way onto the pool deck wearing headphones.
“I like to listen to deep house music, feel the rhythm and feel the mood of racing. It gets my mind in a focused state.”
He swims again in the 200m backstroke heats on Thursday morning.
Earlier in the evening, Chris Smith delivered another personal best as he finished second in his 50m breaststroke in 26.77, advancing to Wednesday’s final seeded joint fifth overall.
Smith got off to a slow start, but his powerful work on top of the water saw him making huge inroads into the field to touch six-hundredths of a second behind Dutchman Koen de Groot.
China’s Haiyang Qin, the 100m breaststroke champion, won the second semifinal in 26.52.
But it was a great day for Smith, becoming the second-fastest South African in this event after former world record-holder and two-time world champion Cameron van der Burgh (26.54).
Aimee Canny ended sixth in her 200m freestyle semifinal in 1min 57.72sec, slightly slower than her time in the heats and missing out on a spot in Wednesday’s final.
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