Cameron on top of the world

2008-09-05 07:24

Johannesburg - African 50m breaststroke record-holder Cameron van der Burgh is on top of the world, after bettering his continental mark on the first evening of the four-day Telkom SA Short Course Championships held at the Delville Swimming Pool in Germiston.

Pretoria-based Van der Burgh, whose previous mark stood at 26.65 seconds set at the Fina World Short Course Championships in Manchester, in April this year, turned on the speed in the heats to clock 26.61 to erase the memories of last year's early exit from the national championships held in Pietermaritzburg.

In the mixed disability section, Craig Groenewald set a new 100m individual medley world mark of 1:04.36, while in the same discipline in the under 17 category, Challis Wright set a world mark of 1:07.79.

Earlier this year at the Fina World Short Course Championships, the SA team excelled with all of Suzaan van Biljon gold in the 200m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m breaststroke) Gerhard Zandberg (bronze in the 50m freestyle), Cameron van der Burgh (silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 50m breaststroke) and William Diering (bronze in the 200m breaststroke) making it on to the medal podium.

The Delville Swimming Pool is expected to be a hive of activity over the next three days as SA's top swimmers look to post qualifying performances, which will see them short-listed for international swimming action at the Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup in Durban next month.

- SAPA