Rebecca Meder took over half a second off Zimbabwean Olympic great Kirsty Coventry’s African 200m individual medley record on the opening night of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest on Tuesday.
Having qualified as the fourth fastest swimmer in the morning heats in a new South African record of 2:06.15, Meder went even better in the evening final, smashing Coventry’s mark on her way to sixth place in 2:05.61.
The previous record of 2:06.13 had stood for over 16 years.
Meder admitted afterwards that while she was targeting the record, it still came as a surprise.
“I knew I had a 2:06 in me. 2:05 was a big surprise,” she said. “I was obviously aiming for that African record and have for a while. I mean Kirsty Coventry is a legend in the medley.
“It’s a good start to the week, it’s not over. So I have to put that one behind me – as stoked and happy as I am – and focus on the 100 breaststroke tomorrow, then the 100IM and 200 breaststroke.”
Meder’s race was won by American Kate Douglass in a new world record of 2:01.63.
Later in the evening, Ruard van Renen led through the 75m mark of his 100m backstroke semifinal, but eventually finished in fourth place. His time of 49.89 seconds was quick enough to see him safely through to Wednesday’s final as the sixth-fastest swimmer of the night. Van Renen was slightly quicker in the morning heats, dipping under 50 seconds for the first time in 49.73.
“I’m super-stoked. Definitely, when I touched the wall at the end, I thought I was definitely out. I didn’t go the time I wanted to, it wasn’t a perfect swim, but I’m just happy I got there in the end,” said an elated Van Renen afterwards. As for competing in his first major international final, the 21-year-old added: “I’m super excited to race with the big guys and push myself to the absolute limit.”
Former South African swimmer Neil Versfeld who now coaches Van Renen at the University of Georgia in the USA, reckoned: “It’s anyone’s game trying to push for a medal tomorrow night, so he’s excited, I’m excited, it should be a fun one.”
Earlier in the day, Jessica Thompson missed out on a place in the 50m butterfly semifinals by just one hundredth of a second after finishing her heat in a personal best time of 25.73 seconds.
“I’m pretty happy for day one, first senior international competition, so I’m quite happy that it’s a PB even though it’s by a little bit of a split,” said the 17-year-old after finishing 17th overall with just the top 16 progressing.
“Missing the semi is quite a hard pill to swallow, but I still have the 50 back coming up so I’m excited about that and hopefully that will go well.”
Thompson swam in the race directly after American Gretchen Walsh stormed to victory in her 50m butterfly heat in a new world record time of 24.02 seconds. She then improved that mark to 23.94 seconds in the evening semifinals – one of five individual world records broken in total on the opening day of competition in Budapest.
Meanwhile, Hannah Robertson finished 28th overall in the 400m freestyle in a time of 4:12.77 while 18-year-old Milla Drakopoulos was 26th in the 100m backstroke in 59.33 seconds.
17-year-old Kris Mihaylov, who recently broke Ryk Neethling’s national 800m freestyle record, finished the 1500m freestyle in 14:52.53 to place 15th overall.
“It was a pretty comfortable race,” he said afterwards. “I’m hopefully aiming to go a bit faster at a later stage, but for now it’s pretty good and I’m looking forward to the 800.”
Chad le Clos was 22nd overall in the 50m butterfly – not one of his main events – in a time of 22.67 seconds while Kian Keylock was 35th overall in the 200m individual medley in 1:59.69.
Swimming action resumes in Budapest on Wednesday and continues until Sunday, 15 December.
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