Swimming

Tatjana Smith (Nee Schoenmaker) Fires Off 2:19.92 200 Breast Heats Swim At RSA Trials

April 10, 2024

2024 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (OLYMPIC TRIALS)

Monday, April 8th – Saturday, April 13th
Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa
LCM (50m)
SwimSwam Preview
Day 1 Recap /Day 2 Recap
Results

We entered day 3 of the 2024 South African National Championships with the meet representing the nation’s Olympic Trials competition.

26-year-old Olympic champion Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker) already made her presence known on day one, capturing 50m breast gold in a new personal best of 30.09.

Racing in the heats this morning in Gqeberha, Smith put up another impressive performance en route to securing the top seed in the women’s 200m breast.

Smith touched in a time of 2:19.92 to register the 4th-swiftest time of her career.

She split 32.44/35.41/35.90/36.17 to lead the field by nearly 4 seconds. The next-closest competitor was Kaylene Corbett who touched in 2:23.84.

Entering these championships, Smith’s season-best rested at the 2:20.30 she logged at December’s South African World Championship Trials, although she wound up not competing in Doha. Her swim today sliced .38 off of that to check-in as her quickest time since the 2020 Olympic Games.

Tatjana Schoenmaker‘s Top 5 LCM 200 Breaststroke Performances All-Time

2:18.95 – 2021 Olympic Games
2:19.16 – 2021 Olympic Games (heats)
2:19.33 – 2021 Olympic Games (semi-final)
2:19.92 – 2024 South African Olympic Trials
2:20.17 – 2021 South African National Championships

Additional Notes

Aimee Canny staked her claim on the women’s 200m free, producing the sole outing of this morning’s heats under 2:00 in 1:59.52. She won the 100m free last night over national record holder Erin Gallagher. Dune Coetzee earned the 2nd seed this morning in 2:02.73.
Matt Sates will try to follow-up his 200m fly victory from last night with a win in the 200m free. He hit 1:50.69 with Guy Brooks next in line in 1:51.26.
20-year-old Matthew Randle landed lane 4 in the men’s 200m breast in 2:14.89 while the women’s edition saw Hannah Pearse notch 2:12.44.
Dylan Wright put up a mark of 2:03.20 as the quickest men’s 200m backstroker out of the heats, with 2024 World Championships bronze medalist Pieter Coetze casually turn in in a time of 2:04.96.