Chad has point to prove
WORLD CHAMPS: LE CLOS HAS BEEN DISAPPOINTING BUT LOOKS DETERMINED
He has reduced his schedule, opting for 100m, 200m butterfly.
After a topsy-turvy season, Chad le Cos will dive into the pool carrying a rare underdog tag at the World Aquatics Championships, with a chance to redeem himself from last year’s Olympic Games when the swimming gala gets underway in Budapest tomorrow.
Le Clos had been tipped to take over from US legend Michael Phelps as the world’s best swimmer with his gold and silver haul in London four years earlier, but he was relatively disappointing at the Rio showpiece after settling for two silver medals.
Having switched home bases and coaches, he looked to have found a new spark at the national championships in Durban in April, highlighting his campaign with a fast time of 51.29 seconds in the 100m butterfly event, but he was again below his best at the recent Mare Nostrum series in Europe where he picked up two bronze medals in the final leg.
With pundits perhaps losing faith in his consistency, however, Le Clos has proved he has bigmatch temperament and will be keen to prove his doubters wrong.
Cutting his programme to focus on the 100m and 200m butterfly events, he will aim to become only the second swimmer after Phelps to win three successive titles over the shorter distance.
Cameron van der Burgh, meanwhile, will also target the podium as the breaststroke specialist turns out at his fourth edition of the global long-course spectacle.
At the Mare Nostrum series, the former Olympic champion and world record-holder bagged five medals in the three-leg campaign to lift the overall men’s trophy, and he will turn out as another podium favourite.
Though she had become the first South African woman to achieve the A-standard qualifying mark in three years for a major international championship, teenager Tatjana Schoenmaker has opted to give the event a miss in order to focus on the World Student Games in Taipei next month.
Swimming SA boosted the size of the squad to allow for growth at elite level, entering a number of B-qualifiers (including five women).
The 16-member national swimming team also includes Olympic freestyle sprint finalist and distance specialist Myles Brown, who will hope to stun the main contenders by picking up medals.
While the SA squad turned out in water polo, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo at the biennial championships over the last week, the swimming contingent will again carry the country’s hopes.
The World Aquatics Championships come to a close next weekend.
Medals earned by Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh at the World Aquatics Championships: Le Clos
2015 (Kazan) - gold, 100m butterfly; silver, 200m butterfly
2013 (Barcelona) - gold, 100m butterfly; gold; 200m butterfly Van der Burgh
2015 (Kazan) - silver, 50m breaststroke; silver, 100m breaststroke
2013 (Barcelona) - gold, 50m breaststroke; silver, 100m breaststroke
2011 (Shanghai) - bronze, 50m breaststroke; bronze, 100m breaststroke
2009 (Rome) - gold, 50m breaststroke; bronze, 100m breaststroke
2007 (Melbourne) - bronze, 50m breaststroke