Matthew Sates believes spending more time at his Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, base will help him in his assault against the planet’s best swimmers.
The 19-year-old ended a topsy-turvy year in fine style last week, winning the 200m individual medley gold and 400m IM bronze at the world short-course championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Sates, the top male swimmer of the 2021 World Cup series, started this year well by clinching an NCAA title during a three-month US college stint and then easing into long-course racing with an unbeaten run through three Mare Nostrum galas in Europe.
He set up training camp in Turkey before heading to the world championships in Budapest where he underperformed, making just one final.
The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham didn’t go much better for him, failing to make a podium, while other young stars — notably Lara van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé — landed multiple medals.
Then he lost his World Cup title as well, but bounced back in Australia last week.
“It definitely was a rollercoaster of ups and downs, so it’s very very relieving and it’s such a good way to end the year,” Sates said this week.
Lessons had been learnt. “It’s mainly the months leading up to [racing] and how those months are going in training [that determine] how you’re going to perform.
“It’s going to be get a base, stick to it and keep on having a good routine and not changing too many things. I’m going to try do a little less travelling, not travel when I don’t need to because that does tire me out,” admitted Sates.
“The routine just stays better when I’m in one place. I just like staying in routine … I’ve got everything [here], I’ve got the best physios. I just keep my base good.”
Next year his focus will switch from short-course competition over 25m lengths to Olympic-sized 50m pools; the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, will form part of his build-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Long course [200m races] will be heats, semifinals and finals [in Melbourne he had only heats and finals], so I just have to plan which races I’m going to swim a little better and focus on just a couple, so I’m excited for that,” said Sates.
His main races have been the 200m and 400m IM and 200m and 400m freestyle, but he has no intention of dropping events. “Just plan it [better], look at the schedule. I have to see the heat sheets and everything, but I’ll definitely be more conservative to see where I’m going to put my energy.”
In Australia the heats of both freestyle races came the morning after his podium swims in the IM, both of which were South African records.
Sates’ world rankings in the IM races are higher than in the freestyle — first and third in the 200m and 400m IM short course and fourth and fifth in the 200m and 400m freestyle.
But the 200m freestyle personal best he swam in 2021 would have taken silver in Melbourne.
In long-course competition he is ranked ninth and 14th in the IM, compared to 16th and 50th in the freestyle.
Short-course competition benefits swimmers with quick turns and good underwater movement off the wall. Long course is a different beast.
“I’ll be training more for long course ... I’ve been focusing more on short course. I think [the switch] will help lots.”
Sates, Van Niekerk, Coetzé, Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker, Kaylene Corbett and resurgent Chad le Clos all have the potential to form South Africa’s strongest swimming outfit in history.
No South African team has produced more than two individual medallists at a single Games.
“I think 2024 and 2025 will be among the biggest years in South African swimming,” said Sates, who is taking his Christmas break at a relative’s dairy farm in Underberg before he resumes training early next year.
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