Tatjana Smith achieved her second World Short Course Championships qualifying time on day two of the SA Short Course Championships at the GC Jolliffe Swimming Pool in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, 25 September 2026.
Smith added the 100m breaststroke title to the 50m crown she won on Thursday, sailing to victory in 1:04.00. The time was well under the qualifying mark for the World Short Course Championships and just 0.11 of a second off her own national record.
The 100m breaststroke Olympic champion admitted afterwards that, having switched her focus to the 50m event since her return to competitive swimming, the second half of Friday’s race had hurt more than usual.
“I think in terms of just my stroke and stuff, this is probably more my comfort zone. But obviously with the focus being on the 50m, I maybe don’t have as much at the end.”
SA 100m Breaststroke Short Course Champion, Tatjana Smith
“But I’m very surprised with the 33.9 [seconds] coming back, especially not really training for the back end. It just shows you the 22 years of base training I had with Rocco [Meiring] is still in there somewhere.”
Smith confirmed that, despite her focus on the 50m, having qualified for the 100m event, she intends to compete over the distance at the World Short Course Championships, which run from 1 to 6 December in Beijing, China.
Earlier in the evening, Grace Morris celebrated the end of her matric prelims by defending her 200m backstroke title with a B qualifying time, winning in 2:08.78.
“It feels amazing. I didn’t have a lot of expectation coming into this gala. But I just really wanted to enjoy it and race it because I love it, so it feels really, really good,” said the 18-year-old, admitting that balancing training and studying had been tricky.
“Actually, I think that sometimes when you swim the best is when you don’t put so much pressure on yourself and you actually just do it because you love it.”
SA 200m Backstroke Short Course Champion, Grace Morris
Her B qualifying time means Morris can still be selected for the World Short Course Championships team.
Three women dipped under the B qualifying mark in the 800m freestyle. Duné Coetzee claimed the title in 8:29.71, with Callan Lotter second in 8:30.03 and Stephanie Houtman third in 8:36.66.
Meanwhile, in the Para swimming events, Kat Swanepoel set her fifth SA record of the championships. The former world champion swam 1:49.70 in the morning heats of the S5 100m backstroke and then went even quicker in the final, finishing in 1:47.98.
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“I expected none of it. I haven’t tapered at all, I’m in really hard training,” said Swanepoel afterwards. “It’s been another tough season of being remotely trained by my coach… but to be in the water and to swim… I love the results and I love being back.”
Swimming action resumes at the GC Jolliffe Swimming Pool on Saturday, 26 September and concludes on Sunday, 27 September.
Original Copy: Karien Jonckheere for Swimming South Africa, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: Olympic champion Tatjana Smith claimed her second national title of the SA Short Course Championships, winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:04.00, just 0.11 of a second off her own national record and well inside the qualifying mark for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing, China, at the GC Jolliffe Swimming Pool in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, 25 September 2026. All Photos: Captured by Col
Photo 2 Caption: Kat Swanepoel raced the S5 100m backstroke in the Para swimming programme, going quicker in the final than she had in the morning heats.
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