It was the veteran who bettered the youngsters on the final day of the South African National Championships. Roland Schoeman, a two-time Olympian touched the wall ahead of his younger counterparts in the men’s 50 free on day 7 of the meet. Schoeman posted a Olympic qualifying standard of 22.08 during the semifinals and while he couldn’t quite repeat that performance he did touch ahead of most recent junior college record holder Bradley Tandy 22.23 to 22.35. In third was former Auburn national champion Gideon Louw at 22.45.
On night six the battle was in the 200 IM where Chad Le Clos continued to roll through these championships adding events to his Olympic program virtually every night. Le Clos took the win in the shorter medley in 1:58.97 ahead of Darian Townsend who touched in 1:59.34 to also earn himself an A standard and a guaranteed Olympic berth.
Suzaan van Biljon just missed the FINA A standard posted a swift 2:25.89 in the semifinals of the women’s 200 breaststroke and while she couldn’t quite repeat that time in the finals her 2:26.74 was still under the FINA A standard to earn herself a trip to London. She had come up just shy of the mark in the 100 breast earlier in the meet. Her time from the semis was good enough for 17th on the year.
After missing the FINA A standard in the 100 free, 200 free and 100 back Karin Prinsloo was down to her last event to solidify her spot on the Olympic team at these championships. Her time of 2:10.76 was good enough to do just that as she was under the mark of 2:10.84 she needed. Her prelim time of 2:10.34 ranks her 24th on the season.
Georgia standout Wendy Trott also locked up her spot on the team virtue of her win in the 800 free in a time of 8:30.61. She was faster in the preliminaries with a 8:28.79 which ranks her 11th this year. In the men’s 1500 it was Heerden Herman who bettered the field by a whopping 20 seconds to touch in 15:07.99, under the FINA A standard and good enough for 14th on the season.
A number of other event winners on the final two nights failed to meet the Olympic qualifying times but did better the FINA B standards which give them provisional qualification to London. They will have to wait for the official word from FINA on their status. Those included Charl Crous (200 back), Karin Prinsloo (100 free), Chad Le Clos (52.45), Trudi Maree (50 free).