Brad Morgan
29 October 2007
Three South African swimmers made big waves at the second leg of the Swimming World Cup in Singapore on the weekend, adding seven gold medals to the country's 16-medal haul at the opening leg in Durban.
Roland Schoeman, who paid his own way to compete in the Asian city, ensured his decision was well rewarded; he was the star of the show on the opening day, capturing three titles and a second place.
He was a comfortable winner in the 100 metres freestyle, racing well clear of the field over the first 50 metres, before going on to victory in 47.34 seconds, which was a world season's best for the sprint ace. Australia's Kenrick Monk, who took second place in 48.04, never managed to challenge for victory.
SA one-two
Schoeman claimed his second gold in the 50 metres breaststroke. He won in 27.45, with fellow South African William Diering, who missed the World Cup in Durban, in second place in 27.99.
His hat-trick of victories came up in the 100 individual medley, again in convincing fashion as he finished over a second clear of runner-up Randall Bal. Schoeman touched the wall in 53.87 seconds, compared to the 54.98 of the American.
Later, he had to settle for second in the 50 butterfly, as Nikolay Skvortsov edged him for the win. The Russian clocked 23.48 to win by a tenth-of-a-second in an event in which Schoeman holds the world long course record of 22.96 seconds.
On day two of the competition, the SA ace added a fourth gold medal, exhibiting his awesome sprinting ability as he raced away from the field to capture the 50 freestyle in 21.61. With second-placed Grant Brits finishing in 22.15 seconds, it was yet another dominating victory for Schoeman.
Breaststroke successes
William Diering, whom Schoeman beat for gold in the 50 metres breaststroke, shone in the longer breaststroke events too.
He decimated the field over 200 metres, touching in 2:09.36, to finish almost seven seconds clear of second placed Billy Arfianto.
In the 100 metres, he was pipped for gold. Russia's Dmitry Komornikov snatched the win in 1:00.15, only three-hundredths of a second ahead of the South African.
Corfe on song
The third of the South Africans to excel was Melissa Corfe who demonstrated remarkable stamina to turn in medal winning performances in three freestyle events, including two victories.
She began by settling for second behind Yuri Yano in the 800 metres, finishing over 10 seconds behind the Japanese swimmer.
Yano's time was 8:28.67, just inside the South African record time of 8:29.23, set by Kathryn Meaklim at the Durban World Cup where she edged Corfe by only eight-hundredths of a second.
Following the 800, Corfe was in action in the 200 freestyle, and it was in the shorter race that her stamina paid off. Trailing Australia's Lara Davenport at the 150-metre mark, the Durbanite raced to victory as she clocked a 29.73 split over the final 50 metres - compared to 31.23 for Davenport – to win in 1:57.77.
Personal best
It was a personal best for Corfe, improving considerably on her previous best time on 1:58.64, and it took her within a second of Helene Muller's African record of 1:56.78, which has stood since 2002.
Corfe secured a second gold medal in the 400 freestyle as Australia's Meagen Nay and Lara Davenport finished second and third. Swimming from the front, the South African finished in 4:09.61, which was good enough for victory, but slower than her season's best of 4:08.25, which she swam in Durban the previous week.
In addition, Corfe also finished fifth in the 100 freestyle, while Liezel Burger took sixth place in the 50 freestyle.
Garth Tune was seventh in both the men's 50 butterfly and 50 backstroke.
Coming up
The Fina World
Cup next moves Down Under to Sydney. After that, the host cities are Moscow (Russia), Stockholm (Sweden), Berlin (Germany), and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).
Swimming South Africa is sending Schoeman, Gerhard Zandberg, Mandy Loots, Thabang Moeketsane, and Jessica Pengelly to the competitions in Moscow, Stockholm, and Berlin.
A bigger and different squad - made up of Lize-Mari Retief, Sebastian Rossouw, Channelle van Wyk, Charl van Zyl, Russel Kop, Keri Shaw, Welsley Gilchrist, Heerden Herman and Kathryn Meaklim - will be in action at the final event in Brazil.
A group of five swimmers – Cameron van der Burgh, Suzaan van Biljon, Shaun Harris, Riaan Schoeman, and George du Rand - will compete in Grand Prix gala events in Italy over three consecutive days in late November, in Viareggio, Genoa, and Travagliato.
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