Cameron van der Burgh and Chad le Clos added two silver medals to South Africa’s tally on the fourth day of the swimming programme at the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan.
It was a fight to the finish in the 50m breaststroke, where Van der Burgh ended in second place with a time of 26.66 behind Great Britain’s Adam Peaty in 26.51. The bronze in the event went to USA’s Kevin Cordes in 26.86.
“It was not South Africa’s night; we have a lot of work to do ahead of the Olympic Games where we can trade the two silvers from this year and get gold next year.
“We are still very proud, two silver medals is nothing to be sad about.” concluded Van der Burgh.
Van der Burgh will be in action on Thursday as he takes on the 200m breaststroke alongside Ayrton Sweeney.
In the 200m butterfly, Le Clos was in the lead until the 100m mark but had to settle for the silver in the end with a time of 1:53.68, just 0.20secs behind the winner, Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in 1:53.48. The bronze medal was claimed by Poland’s Jan Switkowski in 1:54.10.
“It was a disappointing night for me but I also want to congratulate my friend, Laszlo. This is my first big defeat since the Olympics in 2012 and there is no easy way to take it but I am still happy with my silver medal as it takes the pressure off next year.
“The game plan was to go out hard and not to give him the lead but it did not work out as planned but I will be back in the 100m butterfly on Friday.” concluded Le Clos.
