Selectors have some work to do

Olympic finalist Brad Tandy added his name to a growing list last night, as South Africa’s provisional Commonwealth Games squad continued to swell on the penultimate day of action at the national swimming trials in Durban.

Tandy, who finished sixth in the sprint contest at last year’s Rio Games, stormed to a commanding victory in the 50m freestyle final in 22.33 seconds and dragged another three men under the 23.26 qualifying standard for the Gold Coast Games in April.

Doug Erasmus grabbed the silver medal in 22.90, with Ryan Coetzee securing bronze in 23.18 and Armand Maritz narrowly missing the podium in 23.25.

Meanwhile, Martin Binedell snatched victory in a hard-fought men’s 200m backstroke final.

Binedell touched the wall in 1:59.59, edging out silver medallist Jarryd Baxter by 0.06.

Distance specialist Brent Szurdoki, who won the 1 500m freestyle final in 15:30.83, and 15-year-old Dune Coetzee, who took the women’s 200m butterfly in 2:12.52, expanded their options for the Games after qualifying in other events earlier in the week.

With one day of competition remaining, a total of 28 swimmers had achieved a combined 42 qualifying marks.

Of those who had made the qualifying list, 11 had met the required standards in more than one discipline.

World champion Chad le Clos, who contributed 12 medals to the nation’s hauls at the last two editions of the Commonwealth spectacle, had been the standout performer at the trials after securing qualifying places in four events.

Teenager Erin Gallagher was the best of the country’s top women over the first five days of competition, adding her name to the preliminary Games squad in the 100m butterfly, as well as the 50m and 100m freestyle events.

After the conclusion of the trials, Swimming SA confirmed it would submit a provisional team to the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), which was expected to announce the final team for the Games early next year.