Charl Crous snagged his first trip to the Olympics with a win in the 100 backstroke. His time of 54.17 ranked 20th in the world this year and betters the FINA A standard to secure his spot in London. Crous, the national age group record holder in all three backstroke distances and member of the 2009 world championship team, will also likely swim the backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay in London. Taking second in the race was Darren Murray in 54.80 which fell .4 short of the FINA A cut.
In the men’s 200 free Darian Townsend just missed the needed time to qualify for the individual event in London. His time of 1:47.88 came up just .06 short of the standard but he could still earn a trip to London as a member of the 800 free relay squad. Taking second in the race was Sebastien Rousseau in 1:48.69 while Jean Basson was third in 1:48.70. Chad le Clos topped the field in semifinals but decided to scratch the finals to concentrate on the semis of the 200 fly later in the session. He is still a strong candidate for a relay spot in London.
Karin Prinsloo took a win in the women’s 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.52. That time came up well short of the Olympic Qualifying Standard of 1:00.82 and was slower than she went in semifinals as well. Prinsloo could still be added to the Olympic roster if South Africa Swimming submits her time as a provisional time as it qualifies as a B standard. Second went to Jessica Ashley-Cooper in 1:02.47.
It was Suzaan van Biljon who claimed the win in the women’s 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.76. She came up short of her semifinal time of 1:08.60 and was also short of the FINA A mark of 1:08.48. As noted yesterday, swimmers are required to meet the FINA A mark in the finals at this meet along with achieving it at least one other time in a 10-month period.
The semifinals provided more FINA A marks as Chad le Clos looks to add another event to Olympic program as he leads qualifiers in the men’s 200 fly with a time of 1:55.30. That time comes up just short of the South African record of 1:54.51 held by Sebastien Rousseau. Rousseau is seeded second at 1:57.63; he will need to be faster tomorrow to earn a return trip to the Olympics.
Kathryn Meaklim will look to add the medley double as she cruised to a big win in the semis of the women’s 200 IM. Her time of 2:13.33 cleared the FINA A mark by just .03 and she will need a repeat performance in the finals tomorrow.