The South African duo of Rebecca Meder and Erin Gallagher both made it through to the semifinals of their respective events on the opening day of the swimming programme at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday.
Meder booked her spot in the 200m individual medley semifinals with a time of 2:11.68 in the morning heats. A seventh-place finish in the evening’s semifinal in 2:11.05 was then not enough to see her through to the final, however, missing out by just two places.
“10th in the world is not too shabby, but it’s not my best time, especially for how I’ve been feeling in training and everything,” said the 22-year-old afterwards.
“I was really hoping to sneak into that final. My PB would have placed me in that final… so that’s a bit frustrating,” she added.
“But I’m definitely looking forward to getting into the rest of the competition… I’ve got my 100 and 200m breaststroke still coming up this week, which I’m so excited for.”
Meanwhile, Gallagher lined up for the semifinals of the 100m butterfly after a morning swim of 57.48 seconds. She reached the first turn in third spot, which bodes well for the 50m event, but dropped back to sixth, finishing in 57.68 seconds and 13th overall, so missing out on the final.
Gallagher wasn’t too pleased with her swim, but happy with the speed shown in her opening 50 metres.
“I didn’t realise that I had turned third, that’s really cool, so I’m very happy with my front-end speed,” she said after the race. “I think it’s the fastest I’ve been out in the 100 before and it felt very comfortable and very chilled, so I think that’s a very good sign for the 50, which is still in a couple of days.
“I just have to switch off from the race. Even though it didn’t go the way I wanted it to, there are some good things to take away and look forward to the rest of the racing which is the 100 free and the 50 fly.
“There’s still a long way to go. It’s day one of the competition so I’m looking forward to the rest of my races and we’ll see what we can produce. Hopefully the 50 fly will be a better outcome than this one.”
Other South Africans in action in the heats earlier in the day were Aimee Canny, who finished 19th overall in the 200m individual medley heats after swimming a time of 2:12.70 and Chris Smith, who finished 25th overall in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:00.85. Hannah Robertson was 27th in the 400m freestyle heats in 4:22.69, while in the men’s event, Matthew Caldwell was 39th in 4:01.45.
The SA women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team of twin sisters, Georgia and Olivia Nel, Cailtin de Lange and Hannah Robertson finished sixth in their heat in 3:45.33 and did not progress to the final.
The World Aquatics Championships in Singapore continue on Monday, with Pieter Coetzé kicking off his campaign in the 100m backstroke while Meder will be back in action in the 100m breaststroke, Matt Sates in the 200m freestyle, and Catherine van Rensburg in the 1500m freestyle.
Bearded Angler
Still on the subject of cricket superstitions, the player with the most rituals performed during a match is arguably Neil McKenzie of South Africa. Before a game, for example, he would attach his cricket bat to the ceiling with tape. When it’s time for him to bat, he would check all the changing room lights to make sure they were shut off and that the toilet seats were down.
StormCake
Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for the most wickets in ODI cricket (534) and the most number of Test wickets (800). Murali is the only cricketer to capture over 100 Test wickets at three events. He has also been awarded the most number of Man of the Series in Test cricket.