COETZÉ’S GAMBLE PAYS OFF

SOUTH Africa’s young swim sensation Pieter Coetzé’s jitz recent spell in the pool continued with a gold medal in the 100m backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Tuesday.

The new world champion stormed to the win, dipping below 52 seconds for the second time in the past two weeks. It was a victory that the Tuks psychology student felt was coming at some stage, though he admitted he didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

The South African kicked with about 10m to go to take the title in 51.85 seconds, lowering his own SA and African record for the third time in quick succession. He narrowly missed out on the world record of 51.60.

The 21-year-old Coetzé had posted the world lead in the 100m backstroke earlier this year, when he swam an African and World Student Games record time of 51.99 seconds in Germany — becoming only the eighth swimmer in history to go under 52 seconds in the event.

There was a risk that those exertions would have taken too much out of the rising star to remain competitive at the Singapore showpiece. Thankfully for Coetzé, it gave him the sharpness he needed to pull off the win.

Coetzé wysed: “I always thought it would happen eventually. In my mind, it was just a matter of time. To do it this year is amazing and I can’t say it was expected, especially because it was a gamble going to the World University Games right before this. But it’s working pretty well.”