Chad still on track despite touching second

JOHANNESBURG: The second day of the Fina World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada was no walk in the park for Chad le Clos as he conceded his 200m freestyle title and was forced to settle for the silver medal.

Le Clos got the championships off to a good start the day before, when he secured the 200m butterfly gold medal for the third time in his career.

He had no such luck on Wednesday as Korean swimmer Taehwan Park wrested the title away from the South African, touching the wall in a new championship record of 1:41.03.

Le Clos followed 0.62 seconds behind Park, posting a time of 1:41.65 with Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh rounding off the podium with a time of 1:41.95.

The double world-record holder won four medals at the 2014 Doha World Championships where he became the first swimmer to win the 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly titles, while adding the 200m freestyle gold medal.

Le Clos is still on track to repeat that feat after retaining the 200m butterfly title, with the 50m and 100m butterfly events still to come.

While Le Clos was undecided about whether he would swim the 100m freestyle this week, his name still appeared on the psych sheet.

Fellow South African Myles Brown was nearly two seconds off the pace in the 200m freestyle, finishing in fifth place with a time of 1:43.22.

It has been an otherwise disappointing start for the South African team, with Le Clos and Brown the only two swimmers advancing to finals at the championships.

Olympic gold medallist Cameron van der Burgh suffered a surprise exit in the 100m breaststroke, when he was knocked out in the semi-final on Tuesday.

Van der Burgh, who won silver in the sprint event two years ago, is still set to race in the 50m breaststroke with training partner Giulio Zorzi.

Tayla Lovemore was the only South African woman in action in an individual event on the second day of the championships in Windsor, where she missed out on the next round, finishing eighth in her 50m butterfly heat in a time of 55.49 seconds.

Meanwhile, the 4x50m mixed relay team of Brad Tandy, Doug Erasmus, Lovemore, and Gabi Grobler narrowly missed out on a place in a final despite winning their heat in 1:33.78.

The women’s 4x50m medley relay team consisting of Mariella Venter, Kaylene Corbett, Grobler, and Lovemore finished seventh in their heat clocking 1:52.21 and did not advance.