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Coetzé charges into backstroke final with world-leading form
Cape Argus
|July 29, 2025
PIETER Coetzé booked his place in the 100m backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, after powering to second place in his semifinal yesterday, finishing ahead of Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon of Italy.
The 21-year-old star had secured his semifinal spot with a time of 52.80 seconds in the morning heat and then went even quicker in the semis, clocking 52.29.
That performance saw Coetzé qualify third-fastest for the final, behind Hungary's Hubert Kós (52.21) and Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov (51.26).
Coetzé heads into today’s final with the fastest time in the world this year, having claimed gold at the World University Games in Germany just nine days ago.
There, he posted an impressive African and World Student Games record time of 51.99 seconds, becoming only the eighth swimmer ever to dip under 52 seconds in the 100m backstroke.
This story is from the July 29, 2025 edition of Cape Argus.
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