Ripples from Coetzé’s heroics could soon be felt in LA

THE emergence of recently crowned 100m world backstroke champion Pieter Coetzé as one of the best swimmers in the world right now has given the country’s medal prospects in the pool at LA 2028 a major boost.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

The 21-year-old Tuks psychology student in Pretoria is fresh from becoming the only man to reach the podium in all three backstroke events at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, which featured the cream of the world’s swimming talent.

Coetzé powered his way to South Africa's first medal of the championships, claiming gold in the 100m backstroke.

He fought off Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon and France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard in the second half of the final to reach the wall in a sensationally quick new African record time of 51.85 seconds.

His time was just 0.25 seconds off Ceccon’s world record.

It was also faster than Ceccon's gold-winning time from last year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

“T always thought it would happen eventually,’ admitted Coetzé afterwards during his poolside TV interview. “In my mind, it was just a matter of time - but to do it this year is amazing”

Olympic 200m backstroke champion Hubert Kés was relegated to fourth in the 100m, but the Hungarian would enjoy a measure of revenge in the 200.