Coetze adds two more medals to his name

The standout performance came from swimming sensation Pieter Coetze, who snatched gold in the men’s 50m backstroke at a time of 24.49 and silver in the men’s 100m freestyle at a time of 48.12. The University of Pretoria student makes it three medals from three races at the games after recording the fastest time globally this year in the 100m backstroke last weekend. He continues to be a gold−medal favourite for the upcoming World Championship.

Olivia Nel grabbed bronze in an African record time of 27.91 in the final of the women’s 50m backstroke. She adds her first individual medal of the competition, after winning two bronze medals in the relays. Her teammate Michaela de Villiers (28.37) finished 5th in the same race missing out on the podium.

To round off the evening’s triumphs, Team SA clinched bronze in the 4x100m Mixed Freestyle Relay. The team of Guy Brooks, Ruard van Renen, Olivia Nel and Michaela de Villiers earning their place on the podium in a time of 3:28.51 and celebrating yet another thrilling night of achievements in the pool.

In other swimming news, Simone Moll touched the wall first in a time of 1:07.94 and Lara van Niekerk finished third in a time of 1:08.46 to both qualify for the 100m breaststroke final tomorrow. While Olivia Nel (24.96) books her place in the women’s 50m freestyle final also taking place tomorrow, however teammate Michaela de Villiers (25.84) misses out on the final qualification.

Athletics kicks off in style, Walaza wins gold while Uys and Marias grab bronze

South Africa’s track and field stars began their heats yesterday and continued with more semifinal and finals action today; here are some of the standout highlights from the team:

• Men’s 100m Final: Bayanda Walaza adds a FISU gold medal to his growing accolades with a blistering 10.16 in the final race of the night, teammate Kyle Zinn placed 5th overall coming in at a time of 10.42

• Women’s 100m Final: Gabriella Marias explodes out the blocks to snatch a bronze medal for South Africa with a blazing 11.51 in her first international competition final

• Women’s Shot Put Final: Colette Uys (17.34m) grabs bronze ahead of her South African teammate by a mere 1cm difference while Mine de Klerk (17.33m) settles for fourth place

• Hannah van Niekerk finished 3rd in her heat of the Women’s 400m Hurdles in a time of 56.62 qualifying for the semifinal

• Wernich van Rensburg missed out in the semifinal of the Men’s 400m Hurdles due to a false start in the race

• Keanu Domingo comes 3rd in his heat of the Men’s 1500m race in a time of 3:45.54 qualifying for the semifinals

• Johannes Munnik comes 4th in the Men’s 1500m heats in a time of 3:44.43 qualifying for the semifinals

• Marlie Viljoen places 4th in the Women’s 400m semifinal with a time of 52.99 narrowly missing out on the final race to defend her title

• Precious Molepo finished 6th in her semifinal of the Women’s 400m with a time of 53.30 missing out on the final

• Lythe Pillay cruises in his semifinal of the Men’s 400m, finishing first with a smooth time of 45.53

• Tumisang Shezi unfortunately does not finish the Men’s 400m due to an injury that took place during the race

• Joviale Mbisha missed out in the semifinal of the Women’s 100m semifinal due to a false start in the race

• Charne Swart lands the third spot in the Women’s 800m heats and qualifies for the next round

• Aron Alvarez narrowly missed out on top 8 in the Men’s Discus final, finishing 9th with a distance of 55.94m

• Nicola Jansen delivers a season−best 32:56.14 to finish 10th in the 10,000m final

• Karabo Mailula powers through 10,000m with a new personal best at a time of 33:06.34

In other Team South Africa news from day five of the competition. The fencing team takes down the hosts Germany 45–38 in the Senior Men’s Épée Team Event, putting on a clinic of sharp attacks and solid defence!

• Harry Oliver Saner led with an impressive 4 wins, racking up 16 touches across his bouts.

• Rahul Ramroop van Manen added serious firepower with 3 strong rounds, including a critical 6–2 round that swung the momentum.

• Christiaan Bester sealed it in style, closing the final bout with a 5–2 win to hit the magic number: 45!

Valuable experience on the clay court and in the pool

South Africa’s Erine Lategan bowed out in the Women’s Singles Consolation Round of 32, going down 0–2 to Thailand’s Lidia Podgorichani. Jason Fogle also ended his campaign in the Men’s Singles Consolation Round of 16 after a straight−sets defeat to Japan’s Yu Tanaka, it ended 2–6, 1–6. Lilitha Ndungane pushed all the way in a gripping 3−set clash in the Women’s Singles Consolation Round of 32 but missed out in the tie−break, 3–6, 6–3, 8–10 against the Netherlands’ J. Geels.

Delien Kleinhans played in the Women’s Singles Consolation Round of 16 taking the first set 7–5 against Portugal’s Inês Oliveira. Oliveira fought back in the second set to make it a set a piece. But Kleinhans stood firm winning the final set 10–5 and the match. Damien Nezar fell short in the Men’s Singles Consolation quarterfinal 1–6, 2–6, going down 2 sets to none against Australia’s Derek Pham bowing out of the competition.

The diving action kicked off with the women’s 3m springboard preliminary rounds with three South Africans taking to the water: Bailey Heydra, Grace Brammer and Kerry−leigh Morrison. Bailey Heydra qualified for the finals of the category with a total score of 230.30 points. Bailey Heydra competed in the women’s 3m springboard final, the South African managed a score of 223.80 finishing 9th overall in the competition.

Heydra, Brammer and Morrison would compete again in the women’s 1m springboard preliminary rounds with Heydra the only one to go through to the women’s 1m springboard finals tomorrow with a score of 218.85. Some tough results, but valuable experience gained as the competition heats up.

The arrival of the South African rowing team spurred excitement, archery and rowing are gearing up to commence their events with final training preparations underway.