4 days ago
Cometh the hour, cometh Pieter Coetzé, high-flying backstroke star
As swimming in South Africa faces one of its darkest hours, Pieter Coetzé looks set to answer its call.
Since the world championships became a two-yearly event in 2001, the country has made the podium at every edition.
With the retirement of breaststroke queen Tatjana Smith after the Paris Olympics last year, there have been fears of a vacuum leaving the country with no medals at the 2025 global gala in Singapore that started today.
But Coetzé torpedoed that notion at the World Student Games in Germany last weekend, blitzing an incredible 51.99sec in the 100m backstroke that lifted him to No 1 in the world. That time would have won gold at the Paris Olympics last year, and nobody has been under 52 seconds since 2023.
Now he's a target for the likes of Olympic 100m backstroke champion Thomas Ceccon of Italy, and China's runner-up Xu Jiayu, as well as Hungarian Hubert Kos, the Games 200m backstroke king who missed the 100m final in France.
Ceccon, owner of the 51.60 world record from 2022, won the 100m backstroke at the 2024 Games in 52.00, ahead of Xu in 52.32. Other form competitors are Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, who went 52.04 in April, as well as Briton Oliver Morgan (52.12), Miron Lifintsev, another Russian (52.15) and Kos (52.24).
