Houlie, Smith, Corbett and Meder book World Championships tickets

JOHANNESBURG – South African swimmers continue to book their tickets to the World Championships in Singapore later this year as they swim the qualifying times.

The National Championships are happening at Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha from 9-13 April.

On Saturday, both defending champion Michael Houlie and Chris Smith achieved the required mark in the morning heats of the 50m breaststroke and did it again in the final.

Houlie successfully defended his title in 26.90 seconds, with Smith second in 27.11 seconds.

Pieter Coetzé qualified for another event at the world champs in the heats of the 50m freestyle.

On Friday night, two swimmers dipped under the qualifying time in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

Rebecca Meder claimed the title in a time of 2:23.61 with Kaylene Corbett finishing second in 2:24.70 – also a qualifying time.

READ MORE:

- Swimmers Rebecca Meder and Matt Sates book their world championships spots

- Pieter Coetzé snatches the first World Aquatics Championships qualifying time at the SA National Championships

- New era dawns as rising stars take centre stage at SA Swimming Championships

Friday night saw Down Syndrome swimmer Minke Janse van Rensburg break her own world record in the 50m butterfly, finishing in a time of 36.59 seconds.

Para-swimmers Danika Vyncke and Alani Ferreira set new national records.

Ferreira set the new mark for the S12 100m freestyle at 1:07.90 while Vyncke set the S13 record at 1:05.04.