By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2023 GRAND PRIX DURBAN
- Friday, March 3rd – Sunday, March 5th
- Kings Park Pool, Durban, South Africa
- LCM (50m)
- Day 1 Recap
- Results – Meet Mobile: 2023 Grand Prix 2 Invitational Meet – KZN
Action concluded at the Grand Prix Durban from Kings Park pool but not before Pieter Coetze and Lara van Niekerk collected additional hardware.
18-year-old Coetze followed up his 100m back victory from yesterday with two gold medals today. The Cal commit first produced a time of 25.09 to top the men’s 50m back podium before putting up a mark of 1:58.34 to also came away with the 200m back gold.
Coezte is the reigning World Junior champion in the men’s 200m backstroke while he also earned bronze in the event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Van Niekerk wrangled up the victory in the women’s 50m breaststroke with a time of 31.04. That pairs with her 100m breast win from yesterday and puts her right in the mix for potential multiple-event qualification for this summer’s World Championships. South African swimmers need to post World Aquatics ‘A’ times at the national championships scheduled for April.
Of note, van Niekerk posted a quicker time in the prelims last night, scoring the top seed in an outing of 30.65. That renders her the 4th fastest performer in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Women 50 Breast
King
30.04
| 2 | Imogen Clark |
GBR | 30.47 | 03/03 |
| 3 | Mona McSharry |
IRL | 30.56 | 01/14 |
| 4 | Dominika SZTANDERA |
POL | 30.67 | 02/26 |
| 5 | Tatiana Belonogoff |
RUS | 30.69 | 02/25 |
On her performances this weekend, 19-year-old van Niekerk said, “I’m happy – especially with the Olympic qualifying time [in the 100m breaststroke]. The other events didn’t go as well as I hoped, like the 50m breaststroke.
“I still managed to go 30.6 which is actually good considering I haven’t done any front-end speed… I need to keep in mind that we are in hard training.
“Now I know exactly where I am in the training so it’s just a matter of getting that last little bit of fitness and the front-end speed going.”
Kaylene Corbett got it done for gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke, registering a winning result of 2:25.81. That carried her to the wall nearly 10 seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor.
Additional winners included Rebecca Meder topping both the women’s 100m free podium (55.67) and the 400m free podium (4:17.93), while Erin Gallagher touched first in the 50m fly in 26.87 today.
SwimSwam: Van Niekerk Enters Season’s Top 5 Performers In Women’s 50 Breast
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