Olympic star Tatjana Schoenmaker ensured she was not to be outdone again in the 100m breaststroke, regaining her national title on the opening night of the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha, ahead of teen rival and Commonwealth Games champion Lara van Niekerk on Wednesday, 12 April 2023.
There was a massive sigh of relief for the Olympic silver medallist in the event as she claimed the title in a time of 1:05.89 – not that she had beaten her young opponent who claimed the title last year – but that she had once again dipped under the 1 minute 6 second mark.
Schoenmaker’s victory came in 1:05.89 to equal the second fastest time in the world this year with van Niekerk second in 1:06.74.
“It was never about the title. If I came second or last – for me it was about those personal goals that I set for myself,” said a thrilled Schoenmaker afterwards.
“It is challenging to come back from a 1:04.8 [at the Olympics in Tokyo] and then never breaking a 1:06 so it was really tough.
“I’ve seen it in training and my times have been looking great but it just didn’t link with my racing so I’m grateful to dip under that and see that my times in training are actually showing.”
Speaking about the great depth in South African women’s breaststroke, Schoenmaker added: “I think we have such an amazing breaststroke group… it’s always nice to have world-class swimmers with you in the race.
“We’re also all from NTS [Northern Gauteng] so there’s never a competition where you’re not stepping up against world-class swimmers. I think that’s challenging on the mental side because you’re not always feeling great but then it’s such a good challenge to push yourself every time you swim.”
Like they had done in the morning heats, both van Niekerk and Schoenmaker comfortably achieved A qualifying times for the Swimming World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July while third-place Kaylene Corbett’s time of 1:08.57 was a B qualifier.
Earlier in the evening, Aimee Canny claimed another A qualifying time in the 200m freestyle after doing so in the morning heats. She swam to victory in a time of 1:57.82, in a race where the top four swimmers all dipped under two minutes.
Duné Coetzee was second in 1:59.05 and Erin Gallagher third in 1:59.50 (both B qualifying times).
“It felt really good this morning. I kind of took all the pressure off myself and I knew I had to do it again tonight. I knew I could do it – especially how easy it felt,” said Canny after her final. “I definitely went out harder tonight. I felt it at the end but I didn’t die as hard as I probably could have.”
Speaking about the difference that training at the University of Virginia in the USA has made, Canny added: “It’s crazy, training with the level of competition there is insane and I absolutely love it. It’s a great training environment and when I come back it gives me so much confidence to race.”
While, Kat Swanepoel achieved her A qualifier in the SB3 50m breaststroke with a time of 58.54, for the Para Swimming World Championships which take place in Manchester, England from 31 July – 6 August.
SA National Aquatic Championship action continues in Gqeberha on Thursday and runs until Sunday, 16 April.
Photo 1 Caption: Olympic star Tatjana Schoenmaker ensured she was not to be outdone again in the 100m breaststroke, regaining her national title on the opening night of the SA National Aquatic Championships in Gqeberha on Wednesday, 12 April 2023. Photo: Swimming South Africa / Supplied
With editing by gsport
(0 rating, 0 votes, rated)
Loading...
