Silver for Van der Burgh, final for Le Clos
Pretoria’s Van der Burgh was in the lead at the half way mark, touching the wall in a fast 26.79, but slowed down for a second place finish in 58.59, with the gold and bronze going to Great Britain’s Adam Peaty in 58.52 and Ross Murdoch in 59.09 respectively.
“I am very happy with the swim and I am proud that I laid it all on the line tonight” said the 27-year-old Van der Burgh soon after his incredible achievement.
“I went out a little too fast but at the end of the day, I am very excited to be swimming fast again, swimming good times and enjoying the sport. In looking towards Rio 2016, I am very motivated and will use this as ammunition to train hard throughout the year” concluded Van der Burgh.
In the 200m freestyle semi-finals, Chad le Clos secured himself a spot in tomorrow night’s final in an overall 4th position with a time of 1:46.10, while Myles Brown managed a 10th place finish in 1:46.85.
“I am happy to be in the final with a personal best time by one second but I need to be faster if I want to win a medal tomorrow” said Le Clos after his semi-final swim.
“I believe it is very promising for the future and my other events. There are a lot of big names there so I am just going to go out there and have fun.” concluded Le Clos.
It will be a busy day for the South African swimming team tomorrow as Van der Burgh takes on the 50m breaststroke, Brown the 800m freestyle, while Le Clos and Sebastien Rousseau will compete in the 200m butterfly event.
Earlier on in the day, the final women’s Water Polo match for South Africa saw the side going down to Japan by a narrow 7 goals to 15, which placed the team in an overall 16th position.
South Africa scored through Captain Kelsey White (two), Ruby Versveld (one), Megan Schooling (one), Amica Hallendorff (one), Kemberly Kay (one) and Deborah O’Hanlon (one), while the Japanese netted with goals from Yumi Nakano (four), Chiaki Sakanoue (two), Mitsuki Hashiguchi (two), Ayaka Takahashi (two), Tsubasa Mori (two), Moe Nakata (one), Kana Hosoya (one), and Marina Tokumoto (one).
The men’s Water Polo team will face off against Brazil for 9 – 12th place classification tomorrow (Tuesday, 4th August 2015).