Erasmus produces his best at World Student Games
National swimmer Douglas Erasmus (25) produced his personal best performances at the recent World Student Games, in South Korea.
The Boksburg resident, who competed in the 50m and 100m freestyle, as well as the 4x100m freestyle relay, clocked 22.67 in the 50m race and 50.44 in the 100m stretch – making it his personal best finishes in both distances.
He finished 11th in the 50m and 14th overall in the100m.
In the relay, where Erasmus swam the second leg in a time of 49.67 seconds, team South Africa settled for sixth place in a finishing time of 1.41.8 minutes.
Asked whether he was happy with his performances at the meeting, the Tuks student replied: “I was ecstatic with my performances given my preparation. I swam my personal bests in the 50 and 100, how can I not be happy? The competition was very tough.”
Erasmus’s relay team members included Clayton Jimmie, Luke Pendock and Nico Mayer – all of whom swam the first, third and fourth legs.
The games took place between July 3 and 14.
* South African Short Course Nationals
Upon returning to the country, Erasmus headed for Pietermaritzburg for the South African Short Course Nationals held between July 16 and 19.
In the individual stakes, the Boksburg swimmer took gold for his 50m butterfly race, clocking 24.31 seconds.
In the freestyle, he took silver in the 50m and again settled for the runners-up spot in the 100m – clocking 22.21 and 49.19 respectively.
It was gold-galore for Erasmus in the relays.
The 25-year-old featured in the 4x50m and 4x100m freestyle races – as well as the 4x50m and 4x100m medley relay races and emerged victorious in all of them.
One of Erasmus’s major upcoming assignments is the 2016 Olympic trials, scheduled for April.
Any parties interested in sponsoring him can send an email to douglaserasmus@hotmail.com. – @SabeloBoksburg
