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Electric start to 2nd night
02/04/2008 22:00 - (SA)
Durban - The second night of finals in the Telkom South African Aquatic championships got off to an electric start at the Kings Park Pool in Durban on Wednesday.
Lize-Mari Retief of Northern Tigers swam to the fourth South African and Africa record in the 50m freestyle for women.
She eclipsed her own record achieved on Tuesday night in the semi-finals setiing a time of 25,24 secs and it also earned her a coveted Olympic Qualifying time for the Beijing Games in China later this year.
It was an even better swim for Lize-Mari than that of Tuesday night when she bettered the two-year-old time standing to the name of previous SA record holder Lauren Roets.
And this time there was that added bonus of that Olympic mark.
That was followed immediately by an equally contested race in the men's 50 metres freestyle. While it did not produce a South African record, the top four finishers - Roland Schoeman, Gideon Louw, Lyndon Ferns, all of Northern Tigers and Ryk Neethling of KwaZulu Natal - earned Olympic qualification by dipping under the 23,13 secs mark.
Schoeman won comfortably in 21,90 secs.
And, if that was not enough, another Northern Tigers star Suzaan van Biljon also earned the Olympic nod with a qualifying time of 1:08,61 secs in the women's 100m breaststroke as she headed 12-year-old Jessica Liss of Eastern Province and Courtnay Mower of KwaZulu Natal to the touching boards.
Not allowed to deteriorate
Then it was the turn of Cameron van den Burg, also of Tigers, to stake a claim for China with his 1:01,04 finish in the men's 100m breaststroke as he claimed the SA gold medal.
Much to the delight of her KwaZulu-Natal supporters, the electric atmosphere was not allowed to deteriorate into an Eskom load-sharing exercise as local heroine Melissa Corfe won the South African women's 200m backstroke title by way of a 2:10,03 secs time.
It brought an improved SA record time for the Natalian after she had set the target two years ago
Like Lize-Mari before her, Melissa accomplished her goal in a stunning show of determination and earned her spurs for Beijing in a most confident manner.
In a great chase to the touch pad between Charl van Zyl of KwaZulu-Natal and Gorge du Rand of Free State, the atmosphere remained at fever pitch with Du Rand being overhauled in the last 20m stretch in what was probably the first major upset of the championships.
Close call
Du Rand has dominated this event for many years but this time a matter of 0,76 seconds saw him displaced from his perch by the 17-year-old Van Zyl - eight years his junior - as the Natal man swept home in 2:02,20 secs.
In another close call, youthful Kathryn Meaklim of KZN got the better of veteran Mandy Loots of Central Gauteng to claim the SA title in the 200m butterfly with a winning 2:12,52 effort.
Then there was another South African record swim. This time it was Sebastien Rousseau who lowered his own previous best in the men's 200m butterfly as he claimed the SA Gold Medal title with a time of 1:58,03 (just outside the Olympic qualifying time) ahead of Rousseau Kluever and James Faure in a three-way Western Province coup.
For the second time in two nights, Arizona based Jean Basson (Central Gauteng) could not contain his delight as he won the first semi-final in the men's 200 metres freestyle in 1:47,93 secs inside the Olympic mark. He only arrived back in the country shortly before the start of the domestic championships.
In the second semi-final, his Arizona teammate Darien Townsend (KZN), who also just got home in time to compete this week, was timed at 1:48,94 secs.
It has set up the platform for a great final on Thursday night.
- SAPA
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