Multiple Olympians Chad le Clos and Myles Brown led the way as the Fina World Championships Qualification short list continued to grow on Wednesday’s third night of swimming action at the SA National Aquatic Championships taking place in Durban.

Le Clos turned on the power and cruised ahead of Brown to an impressive qualification time of 1min 46.84sec in the final of the 200m freestyle.

Brown finished in a time of 1:47.55, also a Fina World Championships qualification time, while young Jarryd Baxter clocked a Junior qualification time of 1:50.45 to claim the bronze.

Le Clos and Brown also finished on top in the 200m butterfly semi-final in 2:00.88 and 2:02.19 respectively, ahead of Thursday’s final.

Rebecca Meder (14, pictured above) raced to her second and third Fina Junior World Championships qualification times in the 1500m freestyle when she grabbed the gold medal in 16:49.77 and the 200m freestyle semi-finals in 2:05.66. Her older sister Abi (16) also made the list with a qualification time of 17:08.15 to take home the bronze in the long distance event.

Dune Coetzee (14), Kate Beavon (16), Gabi Grobler (17) and Jenna Pearse (16) made the cut in the 200m freestyle in Junior World Championships qualification times of 2:03.69, 2:04.48, 2:05.64 and 2:05.89 respectively.

Mariella Venter (17) was over the moon as she confirmed her Junior World Championships qualification time in the 100m backstroke, clocking a golden 1:01.53 ahead of Seychelles’ Felicity Passon and Alexus Laird in 1:03.11 and 1:04.54, respectively.

The semi-final of the 50m breaststroke saw Cameron van der Burgh in the lead with a time of 27.06, followed by Brad Tandy (28.00) and Jared Pike (28.41), while on the women’s side, Tatjana Schoenmaker touched the wall first in 31.68 ahead of Tara-Lynn Nicholas in 32.20 and Kaylene Corbett in 32.27, with the finals set to take place on Thursday.

Corbett was back in the water for the 100m breaststroke final, winning the silver and confirming her Junior World Championships qualification in a time of 1:09.46, alongside Hanim Abrahams, who finished in 1:11.18 to the required 1:11.79. Schoenmaker claimed the gold in the event in 1:08.36.

In the 100m backstroke final, Jacques van Wyk was victorious with a time of 56.52, while the silver and bronze went to Martin Binedell and 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games team-member Neil Fair in 56.58 and 57.42, respectively.

The multi-disability races saw Cornell Loubser and Mark Roach top the medal podium in the S14-15 100m butterfly events in 1:05.50 and 1:00.38, respectively, while Kaleb van der Merwe won the S1-13 category in 1:13.44.

Thursday’s heats start at 10am and the finals at 6pm.

The staging of this event has been made possible through the support provided by Swimming SA partners, Sport and Recreation South Africa, SASCOC, National Lotteries Commission, Arena and Rand Water.

Pictures courtesy of Anesh Debiky

Qualifying Times after day three

17th Fina World Championships:
Cameron van der Burgh – 100m breaststroke – 59.73sec
Chad le Clos – 200m freestyle – 1min 46.84sec
Myles Brown – 200m freestyle – 1:47.55

6th Fina Junior World Swimming Championships:
Dune Coetzee – 100m butterfly – 1 01.04, 200m freestyle (SF) – 2:03.69
Kate Beavon – 200m freestyle (SF) – 2:04.48
Jarryd Baxter – 400m freestyle – 3:51.85, 200m freestyle – 1:50.45
Timothy Sates – 200m freestyle (SF) – 1:52.94
Rebecca Meder – 200m individual medley – 2:16.24, 1500m freestyle – 16.49.77, 200m freestyle (SF) – 2:05.66
Jenna Pearse – 200m freestyle (SF) – 2:05.89
Abi Meder – 1500m freestyle – 17:08.15
Gabi Grobler – 200m individual medley – 2:19.83, 200m freestyle (SF) – 2:05.64
Christina Mundell – 200m individual medley (SF) – 2:20.51, 100m breaststroke (SF) – 1:11.56
Michael Houlie – 100m breaststroke – 1:03.20
Daniel Swanepoel – 100m breaststroke -1:03.07
Bryce Skea– 100m breaststroke -1:03.07
Duncan Rudolph– 100m breaststroke (SF) -1:03.36
Bailey Musgrave– 100m breaststroke (SF) -1:03.56
Kaylene Corbett – 100m breaststroke – 1:09.46
Hanim Abrahams – 100m breaststroke – 1:11.18
Mariella Venter – 100m backstroke – 1:01.53
Inge Weidemann – 50m freestyle – 26.26