SA swimmer Pieter Coetzé books spot in the 100m backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore

JOHANNESBURG – SA swimmer Pieter Coetzé booked a spot in the 100m backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore after powering to second place in his semifinal on Monday.

“It was good. I just wanted to make it back for the final, and I was happy with the time and the swim, and to get second in the semis is a good result,” he said after the semifinal.

The 21-year-old star had booked his place in the semifinals with a time of 52.80 seconds in his morning heat and then went quicker in the semis, touching in a time of 52.29.

That saw him qualify third fastest for the final behind Hungary’s Hubert Kos (52.21) and Russian Kliment Kolesnikov (51.26).

“I knew it was going to be fast… I’ve swum with most of these guys, but the Russians are new to me. I haven’t swum against them, and they’re also really fast, but I don’t really focus on the people I’m racing against. I just focus on what I need to do.”

Coetzé heads into Tuesday night's final with the fastest time in the world this year after claiming gold at the World University Games in an impressive African record time of 51.99 seconds just nine days ago.

“I know what I need to do, so I’ll just go and look at the video and see where I can work on things and come back refreshed tomorrow.”

South African swimmer Rebecca Meder. Picture: Supplied.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Meder and Erin Gallagher both made it through to the semifinals of their respective events on the opening day of the swimming programme at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday.

“10th in the world is not too shabby, but it’s not my best time, especially for how I’ve been feeling in training and everything,” said Meder after her race.

The 22-year-old had booked her spot in the 200m individual medley semifinals with a time of 2:11.68 in the morning heats.

“I was really hoping to sneak into that final. My PB would have placed me in that final… so that’s a bit frustrating,” said Meder.

A seventh-place finish in the evening’s semifinal in 2:11.05 was then not enough to see her through to the final, however, missing out by just two places.

“But I’m definitely looking forward to getting into the rest of the competition… I’ve got my 100 and 200m breaststroke still coming up this week, which I’m so excited for.”

South African swimmer Erin Gallagher. Picture: Supplied.

Gallagher lined up for the semifinals of the 100m butterfly after a morning swim of 57.48 seconds.

She reached the first turn in third spot, which bodes well for the 50m event, but dropped back to sixth, finishing in 57.68 seconds and 13th overall, so missing out on the final.

“I didn’t realise that I had turned third, that’s really cool, so I’m very happy with my front-end speed,” she said after the race. “I think it’s the fastest I’ve been out in the 100 before, and it felt very comfortable and very chilled, so I think that’s a very good sign for the 50, which is still in a couple of days.

Gallagher wasn’t too pleased with her swim, but happy with the speed shown in her opening 50 metres.

“I just have to switch off from the race. Even though it didn’t go the way I wanted it to, there are some good things to take away and look forward to the rest of the racing, which is the 100 free and the 50 fly."

“There’s still a long way to go. It’s day one of the competition so I’m looking forward to the rest of my races and we’ll see what we can produce. Hopefully, the 50 fly will be a better outcome than this one.”