Erin Gallagher eyeing another medal for SA at World Aquatics Champs
Following the medal-winning swims of team-mates Pieter Coetze and Kaylene Corbett, Erin Gallagher, who also trains with Coetze and Corbett in Pretoria, will be hoping to add to South Africa's medal tally on Saturday.
Gallagher will be South Africa's next big medal hope at the World Aquatics Championships taking place in Singapore.
Coetze has already picked up two medals – gold in the 100m backstroke and silver in the 200m backstroke – while Corbett won her first 'worlds' medal on Friday, taking the bronze in the 200m breaststroke final.
It's now Gallagher's turn to show what she can do, in the 50m butterfly final.
'Owe it to Pieter and Kaylene'
The 26-year-old finished second in her semi-final on Friday, in a time of 23.39 seconds, and so also bettering her own national record and finishing just one hundredth of a second off Egyptian Farida Osman's continental mark.
Gallagher's time was the third fastest in the semi-finals.
'I'm so happy with that swim. I honestly think I owe it to Pieter and Kaylene, my teammates, for winning medals tonight (Friday),' said Gallagher afterwards.
'I was in the call-room screaming, and they just got me excited for my race and I thought I can't drop the ball – my teammates have done so incredibly well, I need to get into that final tonight and I think that spurred me on in the race.'
Also yesterday, Catherine van Rensburg finished 25th overall in the 800m freestyle in a time of 8 minutes 50.60 seconds.
In other action on Saturday, Coetzé returns to the pool for the 50m backstroke and Corbett for the 50m breaststroke, while Caitlin de Lange will be taking on the 50m freestyle.
The mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team will also be in action before Gallagher's 50m butterfly final in the evening session.
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On the final day of action on Sunday, Coetzé took silver in the 50m backstroke event to wrap up his best-ever showing at the World Aquatics Championships. He finished in 24.17 second, the exact same time as Russia's Pavel Samusenko, and the pair shared the medal, with world-record-holding Russian Kliment Kolesnikov claiming gold in 23.68 seconds. 'I don't think I've ever tied in a final at this level, so it's pretty cool,' Coetzé said after the race. 'I'm very happy. I don't really train for the 50, I train for the 200, so to be able to go down so far and win a medal in the 50 is amazing,' he added. 'Kliment went very fast. That's an extremely fast time, so it was an honour to be in that race and hopefully I can push myself and also get below 24 seconds.' Corbett shines Corbett was the other South African to raise the country's flag at the World Aquatics Championships. The 26-year-old from Bloemfontein finished in third place, claiming a joint bronze medal with Russian Alina Zmushka in a time of 2:23.52 as the pair touched the wall at the same time. Olympic champion Kate Douglass of the USA took the gold in a championship record time of 2:18.50, the second-fastest time in history, with world record-holder Evgeniia Chikunova second in 2:19.96. 'It's been a really hectic year, and it just feels like it really came together when it should, so I'm just really, really stoked about it. I'm very, very happy,' said an emotional Corbett after claiming her first world championship medal. 'I gave everything I had, and I'm just really proud of myself with that performance.' Corbett was in the same pool as legendary South African swimmer Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker) when she clinched gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in the 200m breaststroke, as well as silver in Paris last year in the same event. 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The 1:54.00 record stood for 14 years, and Marchand did more than just break it, he smashed it with a time of 1:52.69, nearly 1.5 seconds off the time set in 2011. DM
