Third world junior record for Sates
Maritzburg swimming sensation, Matt Sates, continued his storming form at the second leg of the FINA World Cup series in Budapest, Hungary, this weekend.
His haul of five gold medals guided the South African team to third place on the medal table behind the United States and Australia.
The 18-year-old followed up his success in the pool in Berlin with another clean sweep of the individual medley events, winning 100m, 200m and 400m, while also adding golds in the 200m and 400m freestyle to his collection.
Sates swam a phenomenal final 25m to reel in Lithuania’s short course world champion, Danas Rapšys, in the 400m freestyle to finish in 3:37.92, earning his third short course world junior record.
“It felt great to get the 400m free junior world record in Budapest in front of the crowd. It was an amazing atmosphere,” Sates said.
“It was very nice to get all five gold medals and be leading in the points scoring. This experience has definitely been life changing. I can’t wait for the rest to follow and see how far I can go. Thank you FINA and Budapest for putting on a good show.”
Fellow Seals swimmer, Martin Binedell, returned to the podium with a silver medal in the 200m backstroke. He finished second behind Hungarian Hubert Kos in 1:53.12.
Emily Visagie took bronze in the 200m breaststroke.
Binedell and Visagie then teamed up with Tayla Lovemore and Brad Tandy to take silver behind the USA in the 4x50m medley relay in 1:43.68.
Coach Wayne Riddin was thrilled with the swimmers’ performances.
“It was great having the six Seals swimmers with me, and the way everyone swam was a highlight in my 43 years of coaching,” he said.
The next leg of the series takes place in Doha, Qatar, from October 21 to 23, before the final leg in Kazan, Russia, from October 28 to 30.