THE Kings Park Aquatics Centre witnessed some amazing performances as Mzansi’s best took to the water for the first finals session of the 2015 South African Swimming Grand Prix in Durban.
Bettering his time of 27.97 from yesterday’s heats session, Cameron van der Burgh was quick off the block to WIN the 50m breaststroke event in 27.73, while Giulio Zorzi came in second with a time of 28.28 and Jarred Crous third in 28.65.
Serbia’s Stjepanovic Velimir was victorious on two occasions in today’s finals session WINNING the 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly.
Olympian Velimir’s 400m freestyle time of 3:58.19 was too quick for SA’s Brent Szurdoki and Danie Marais, who finished second and third in 3:59.81 and 4:01.73, respectively.
In the 200m butterfly, the Serbian clocked 2:01.25 to Daniel Ronaldson’s 2:02.49 and Faarez Gamieldien’s 2:07.80.
15 year-old Michael Andrew (USA) was in top form in the 50m butterfly race, WINNING the event in 24.22 with Nico Meyer coming in a close second in 24.73 and Giulio Zorzi in third in 24.94.
Earlier on in the day, Andrew finished in second place in the 100m backstroke with a time of 56.86, just behind Ricky Ellis (56.25) and ahead of Neil de Villiers (57.15)
Leith Shankland took home the 100m freestyle title when he posted a fast 51.12 ahead of Clayton Jimmie (51.64) and Nico Meyer (52.27).
In the 200m breaststroke final, the honors went to Ayrton Sweeney in 2:15.70, while the second place was taken by Jarred Crous in 2:16.02 and the third by Gamieldien in 2:24.32.
The 400m individual medley saw Gauteng’s Jarryd Baxter claim the top spot in a time of 4:32.69 with Ruan Ras coming in second in 4:35.57 and Jordan le Clos third in 4:38.54.
On the ladies side, Rene Warnes was fastest in the 200m individual medley when she beat Marlies Ross’s 2:20.47 and Justine Macfarlane’s 2:22.35 with her own WINNING time of 2:19.99. Warnes was not done as she later claimed the second positions in both the 200m freestyle (2:04.22) and the 100m butterfly (1:03.83).
The 200m freestyle title went to Erin Gallagher in 2:03.19 while Hanna McLean-Leonard won the 100m butterfly in 1:03.81.
In her the final event of the morning finals, Gallagher added her second WIN when she touched the wall with a time of 26.67 in the 50m freestyle, edging out Natasha van der Walt (26.93) and Lehesta Kemp (27.24).
The first position in the 50m backstroke was claimed by Mariella Venter, in a quick 29.65 followed by Bailey Desmarais (30.74) and Samantha Labuschagne (31.22).
Venter also managed a second place finish in the 200m backstroke in 2:16.63, with the event WIN going to Nathania van Niekerk in 2:16.03.
In the 800m freestyle, Caitlin Kat finished first in 9:01.28 followed by Kate Bevon in 9:06.28 and Michelle Weber in 9:07.02, while the 100m breaststroke title went to Tatjana Schoenmaker in 1:11.19 with Justine Macfarlane and Kelly Gunnell came in second and third in 1:12.47 and 1:12.87, respectively.
