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Lara van Niekerk stunned Olympic star Tatjana Schoenmaker to claim the 100m breaststroke title at the SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Saturday.
The 18-year-old speedster reached the turn first and held on in the second 50m to touch in a lifetime best of 1:05.67 with Schoenmaker second in 1:06.06.
It’s a time that sees her second fastest in the world this year and also just .45 of a second off the time that Schoenmaker swam on her way to a silver medal in the event at the Olympics last year.
Schoenmaker’s best time, however, came in the heats of the Tokyo Games where she set an Olympic record of 1:04.82.
Van Niekerk has now achieved World Championship and Commonwealth Games qualification times in the 50 and 100m breaststroke.
In the next installment of the Chad le Clos v Matt Sates rivalry, it was the veteran who got the better of the young gun in the 100m butterfly.
Le Clos just edged ahead in the final few metres, touching in 51.88 for his second qualification time in as many days with Sates second in 52.06.
