2024 SOUTH AFRICAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
32-year-old Chad Le Clos was in the water on day one of the 2024 South African Short Course Championships, achieving his goal of qualifying for this year’s Short Course World Championships.
Veteran Le Clos opened his campaign with a victory in the men’s 100m freestyle, registering a time of 46.91, about a second outside his lifetime best of 45.78 from 2017.
Le Clos scored the sole sub-47 second outing of the field, although Ruard van Renen was right behind in 47.02. Both men dipped under the threshold needed to stake their claim on the event for December in Budapest.
“I’m very happy. I was really nervous,” Le Clos told Swimming South Africa post-race.
“I’m always nervous for the first race. I knew Ruard was going to be good and he was right there with me… I said a little prayer like I always do on the last 10m and I was very fortunate to get my hand on the wall first.
“But he was the MVP tonight with his performance. He was very, very good.”
Van Renen was indeed excited with his result, with the University of Georgia swimmer commenting, “I definitely thought I had in him in those last five metres but I got out-touched, but I’m still happy with the swim and happy the hard work has paid off.
Van Renen’s performance represents the 21-year-old’s first-ever ‘A’ cut. He’s now South Africa’s 7th-fastest SCM 100 freestyler in history.
Le Clos also raced in the men’s 50m fly tonight, turning in a solid outing of 22.40 for the gold.
“I was faster than I thought in both races if I’m honest… so let’s see how we go in the 100 and 200m fly. – obviously my main two events,” he said when the dust settled.
Fellow Olympian Rebecca Meder topped the women’s 100m breaststroke event in a time of 1:05.82, qualifying for Budapest in the process.
The 22-year-old handily defeated Paris teammate Lara van Niekerk who touched in 1:07.55 as the runner-up. As a reminder, van Niekerk is racing in her first competition after sitting out 2 months due to a back injury.
Meder also made noise in the 100m IM, grabbing gold in a time of 59.03. That was within striking distance of her lifetime best and South African national record of 58.46 clocked at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Meder told Swimming South Africa after the session,“I’m very happy. I think everyone was quite shocked with my breaststroke.
“I was nervous coming in… I said to my family today ‘At the end of the day, I care so much, so it will show when I race. I just have to take that pressure off myself.’ It’s actually so nice to be quite calm before a race and really enjoy it.”
