Cameron looks to short-course record as a stepping-stone to Olympics

RACING to his third consecutive 50m breaststroke title at the Commonwealth Games, South African swimming superstar Cameron van der Burgh proved he was far from reaching his sell-by date.

Van der Burgh has shown incredible longevity, reaping medals for South Africa for more than a decade since making his senior debut at the 2007 Melbourne World Long-Course Championships.

His victory at the Gold Coast Games would rank among one of his great achievements, as he beat the man of the moment and world record-holder Adam Peaty of England.

“I never go into racing looking for a bronze medal, and to come away with gold is super, super, just like a career highlight,” Van der Burgh said.

“Obviously to beat the world’s best, he is the world record-holder in the event, it is kind of nice to come full circle where I beat the world record-holder as a youngster to becoming the world record-holder, you lose it and you come up again and beat them.”

The duo has been locked in a fierce battle since Peaty usurped Van der Burgh of his 100m breaststroke titles at the 2014 Glasgow Games and the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Peaty has been surrounded by an air of invincibility since becoming the first man to break through 58 seconds in the 100m breaststroke.

He did this by breaking Van der Burgh’s world record with a time of 57.92 in 2015.

Van der Burgh’s performance was even more impressive considering he is juggling his swim career and growing his sports and marketing consultancy business, Touch58.

“I have a business down in Cape Town, I am swimming in the morning, gyming in the evening,” Van der Burgh said.

“So the focus was always on the 50m breaststroke but I still did really well in the 50m, I was happy with the time.

“The goal is to maintain the fitness and to remain competitive in the 100m until Tokyo and looking forward to getting that gold medal in the 100m.”

Van der Burgh has his sights on a record-breaking feat at the Tokyo Games where he hopes to become the first 100m breaststroker to win three medals at three consecutive Olympics.

The 29-year-old will soon add married life to his balancing act as he will tie the knot with fiancée Nefeli Valakelis in Greece in July.

“I was laughing because normally you would be training for August for your big competition and now I am training for a beach party for the wedding so that I can at least look good in the photos,” Van der Burgh said.

“The wedding is going to be in Athens, it is going to be nice, we will have about 140 mates coming from South Africa for a full week-long wedding involving everyone.”

After the wedding, Van der Burgh will focus on the FINA World Short- Course Championships in Hangzhou, China in December, where he will be defending his 50m breaststroke title.

“I will definitely go to the World Short-Course Champs, I love a bit of short-course, it is a great opportunity to break some world records there,” Van der Burgh said.

“That is something I defin- itely like to target, I will hit the gym quite hard until then and obviously pick up the swimming as we get closer.

“December is obviously a long way away and we have a long time to get into that groove.

“The way that I felt now and the way my body felt, was looking and reacting, I am very excited to be able to exploit that in the short-course.”

Van der Burgh holds both the world short-course 50m and 100m breaststroke records of 25.25 seconds and 55.61, which he set in Berlin in 2009.