Chad top of the world
HAUL: SA STAR TAKES HOME A STUNNING 35 MEDALS Chad, Roland and Myles do South Africa proud in World Cup.
Admitting he was spent after a long season, Chad le Clos said he was delighted to bag his second overall crown in the Fina World Cup.
Le Clos snatched five more medals at the final leg in Beijing, which ended on Thursday, for a haul of 35 medals – including 24 golds – in the eight-leg series.
“I knew that the Beijing stop would be hard for me because I’m very tired after so many stops,” Le Clos told the Fina website.
“All I want to do is to make sure I can win as many gold medals as possible.
“I’m happy with two ( more) golds and happy to be the overall winner for the second time.”
The versatile 21-year-old swimmer, a double gold medallist at the Fina World Championships in Barcelona in August, earned 574 points in the series, twice breaking the 200m butterfly shortcourse world record along the way.
He finished 160 points clear of Russian Vladimir Morozov who ended second in the standings.
Le Clos regained the title he won in 2011 to become the third South African, after Ryk Neethling and Cameron van der Burgh, to win the lucrative series on two occasions.
South Africa, meanwhile, was the only country to have three swimmers among the top 10 in the men’s table in this year’s campaign.
Veteran sprinter Roland Schoeman finished fourth overall with 213 points and rising distance star Myles Brown was eighth with 144 points.