Dominant Pieter Coetzé starts and ends SA National Swimming Champs on a high

Pieter Coetzé started and finished the South African National Swimming Championships in Gqeberha with a bang. Coetzé obliterated his rivals in the 200m butterfly on Sunday's final evening of competition, taking gold with an extremely fast time of 1:56.07.

The triumph capped a remarkable championships for the swimmer, and qualification for the World Championships in Singapore later this year in multiple disciplines. He had become the first swimmer to claim a World Aquatics Championships qualifying time at this year's edition of the nationals at the Newton Park Swimming Pool on Wednesday. The 20-year-old dipped under the 100m backstroke qualifying mark in the morning heat in 53.



03 seconds and then went even quicker in the final, taking the win. Coetzé achieved another two qualifying times – in the heats and the final of the 50m backstroke. His heat time of 24.

56 seconds was the faster of the two, swimming 24.78 to take the..

. Rowan Callaghan.