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Van der Burgh in fine fettle
Cameron van der Burgh made an emphatic statement in the 100m breaststroke when he stormed to victory in the men's final on Sunday in Pietermaritzburg at the Telkom SA Short Course Championships.
Van der Burgh beat a quality field going away in the final 25m to touch the wall in 58.28, improving on his 58.99 set in the semifinal. William Diering, who won gold in the 200m breaststroke final, settled for silver (1:00.84), with Neil Versfeld in third (1:01.27).
The big tussle in the men's 100m individual medley lived up to all expectations as Gerhard Zandberg proved to be too strong for Darian Townsend and Graeme Moore. It was Moore who looked ominous in the semifinals, romping to a 54.81 time which proved to be the fastest of the semis.
In the final though it was a different story as Moore lost his way in the third leg (breaststroke) of the race and Zandberg and Townsend were able to move away from him. Zandberg touched the wall first, storming to a 53.57sec victory with Townsend second in 54.62sec. Both Zandberg and Townsend set a World Short Course Championship qualifying time. Moore had to settle for third in 55.11sec.
Moore had earlier on won the men's 100m freestyle ahead of Lyndon Ferns by the narrowest of margins - 48.76 to 48.69, while 15-year-old Vanessa Mohr continued to improve, beating Mandy Loots in the ladies 50m butterfly final (27.54 to 27.77). Loots though made no mistake in claiming the 100m individual medley ahead of Kathryn Meaklim.
Chanelle van Wyk posted a World Short Course Championship time in the ladies 50m backstroke (27.96), but she will need to reproduce that effort in the final on Monday should she want to secure her spot in the team to Dubai in December.
Wendy Trott added the 400m freestyle title to the 800m freestyle she had won on Saturday in a time of 4:06.26 - two seconds inside the required 4:08.90 set by Swim SA as a qualifier for the World Short Course Championships.
The final day of the Telkom SA Short Course Championships concludes on Monday, with the heats beginning at 09h30 and finals starting at 14h00.
