Le Clos reclaims his world crown
Chad le Clos made an emphatic return to the top step of the podium as he reclaimed his 200m butterfly world title with his fastest time since winning gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Le Clos raced to victory in his pet event in a time of 1:53.33 to bury the demons of 2015 and 2016.
Fellow South African stalwart Cameron van der Burgh confirmed his legendary status by racing to his sixth consecutive medal in the 50m breaststroke.
The fourth night of the global showpiece was a celebration of South Africa’s two greatest swimming stars as they demonstrated they were far from a spent force.
Displaying his tenacious nature, Le Clos overcame two years of bitter disappointment to drag himself from the abyss and back onto the podium. The odds seemed stacked against him as he raced the two Hungarian favourites, defending champion Laszlo Cseh and Rio Olympic bronze medallist Tamas Kenderesi.
Le Clos went out flying like the night before. But instead of slowing down like he did in his semi-final, he kept the hammer down to touch first. Cseh followed shortly behind him at 1:53.72 with Japan’s Daiya Seto rounding off the podium in 1:54.21.
Le Clos’s first 100 metres, in which he had a second advantage over Cseh, proved decisive as he covered the final two laps slightly slower than the Hungarian.
An emotional Le Clos looked up at the clock as the disappointment from the last two years dissipated to make way emotions of joy. He first conceded his 200m butterfly title at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia before failing to defend his Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro by missing out on a podium place.
There was a sense of déjà vu from Le Clos’ 200m freestyle semifinal at the Rio Games where he took it out fast but slowed down over the final metres. In the final, he used the same tactic but did not die over the final length to hold on for the Olympic silver.
On Tuesday evening he led for most of the race only to die halfway through the final lap to see Cseh and Kenderesi finish ahead of him in the semi-final.
Le Clos gave a wry smile after the race, hinting towards a race tactic instead of a man who suffered the effects of lactic acid.
SA’s breaststroke mainstay Van der Burgh continued to produce at the highest level, winning his 10th medal in total at the world long-course championships.
Racing Adam Peaty, who broke the world record twice the day before, it was always going to be a battle for silver and bronze.
Peaty posted his second sub-26 second time clocking 25.66 leaving Van der Burgh and Brazil’s João Luiz Gomes Junior to fight for the reaming two places. Gomes Junior finished just ahead of Van der Burgh as he clocked 26.52 to the South African’s 26.60.