Pieter Coetze leads the charge as rising stars look to shine at nationals

With some of South Africa’s swimming legends missing this week, all eyes will be on the rising stars, as Pieter Coetze turns out as the headline act at the five-day SA Senior National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha starting on Wednesday.

The start sheets reveal the notable absence of local icons and Olympic medallists Tatjana Smith, who has retired, and Chad le Clos, who is recovering from injury.

There will still be plenty of great swimming on the cards, though, as the current crop of athletes target qualification for the World Aquatics Championships taking place in Singapore later this year.

Olympic finalist Coetze will be eager to stand up and deliver, though he has had to adapt to balancing swimming with his first-year psychology studies at the University of Pretoria.

Coetze, a former Short Course World Championships medallist, will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events, as well as the 50m and 100m freestyle, as he targets qualifying times for the long-course showpiece in Singapore.

“This year has been very interesting. I started studying so it’s pretty new to me, having to manage my time a bit more outside of the pool,” said 20-year-old Coetze.

“But I’ve kept up my training and the standard is quite high, so I’m in good shape and I’m excited to qualify for a few events for the World Championships.”

Meder returns in form

Another swimmer to keep an eye on this week is 14-time African champion Rebecca Meder.

Last year, the New Zealand-based star suffered a ruptured appendix just a few weeks before the national championships, but this time around she is ready to go.

“I have been doing lots of racing in New Zealand in preparation for nationals,” said Meder, who has entered the 100 and 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle events in Gqeberha.

Meder will have to be at her best against two-time Olympic finalist Kaylene Corbett, though double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lara van Niekerk has chosen to forgo the championships in order to focus on training after a long injury layoff.

Meanwhile, it will be a busy week for Matt Sates who is entered into 10 events, while fellow Olympian Erin Gallagher is expected to dominate the butterfly sprints, and Aimee Canny will look to defend her 100m and 200m freestyle titles.