Pieter Coetzé today bids to become the first South African to win a world championship treble when he dives into the 50m backstroke final in Singapore at 1.02pm.
This week, the 21-year-old cemented his potential as a global star — winning the 100m backstroke gold in the joint-third fastest time of all time, and becoming the seventh quickest man while winning the 200m silver.
Now he’s less than 25 seconds away from becoming only the eighth man in history to secure a 50m-100m-200m treble, and only the second in the backstroke after Russian Evgeny Rylov in 2019.
Coetzé won the first semifinal in 24.32sec last night, breaking Gerhard Zandberg’s 2009 South African record by two-100ths of a second. His time seeded him third for the final. Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, owner of the 23.55 world record, took the second semifinal in 24.16, ahead of his countryman Palev Samusenko (24.31).
The 50m freestyle was introduced into competition in 1986 and the other three 50m races followed in 2001, and only one man has bagged a golden treble — China’s breaststroke king Qin Haiyang in 2023. He landed another three-haul in Singapore, although his 50m gong was downgraded to bronze.
South Africa’s finest have been unable to do it so far.
Tatjana Smith (breaststroke), Chad Le Clos (butterfly) and Ryk Neethling (freestyle) medalled over 100m and 200m, but not 50m, while Roland Schoeman (freestyle) and Cameron van der Burgh (breaststroke) reached podiums in the 50m and 100m, but not the 200m.
Penny Heyns held the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke world records simultaneously, but she retired before the introduction of the 50m.
I’ve been seeing big improvements in the freestyle, I’ve been planning on adding that in my programme, and I think I will soon
To date Schoeman is the only South African to win three world championship medals at one gala, with 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly golds and a 100m freestyle silver, at Montreal 2005.
Coetzé, who could become the second tonight, has not been the country’s only hero of the showpiece. Kaylene Corbett’s 200m breaststroke bronze on Friday was an unexpected bonus, considering her 2:23.52 time was last good enough for a podium in 2011.
One has to feel for Rebecca Meder who fell out in the 200m breaststroke heats after struggling with a stomach bug. Had she been in shape to improve on her 2:23.61 best from nationals earlier this year, she would have been in the medal hunt too.
Erin Gallagher came close to silverware too. The 25.39sec African record she set in the 50m butterfly semifinals would have been good enough for bronze in last night’s final.
A few small adjustments, like lengthening her underwater off the dive, could make her competitive.
Coetzé is giving cause for hope at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which will include the 50m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly races for the first time. The psychology student is keen to add the freestyle to his repertoire, especially after his 47.88 best at the recent World Student Games.
“I’ve been seeing big improvements in the freestyle, I’ve been planning on adding that in my programme, and I think I will soon,” he said.
But the scheduling of events will be critical. In Singapore the 200m back semifinals were held less than an hour after the 100m free final. “You never know what the programme will look like at other meets. It’s not always the same so I’ll definitely go have a look and plan to add at least one freestyle event. I don’t know which one.”
No South African has won four medals at a single major gala and no swimming team has landed more than three gongs at an Olympics — a target Coetzé may look to achieve on his own.
A fourth medal today would ensure Singapore has been one of South Africa’s better world championships.
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