By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tuesday, April 14th – Saturday, April 18th Newton Park Swimming Pool, Gqeberha, South Africa LCM (50m)s SwimSwam Preview Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap Results: Meet Mobile – SA National Aquatic SNR-Champ 2026-PEThe final day of the 2026 South African National Swimming Championships took place today in Gqeberha, with additional names being added to the list of those having qualified for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Following up on his impressive feats already here, 21-year-old world champion Pieter Coetze sealed up another victory, this time in the men’s 200m backstroke.
Stopping the clock at 1:55.26, the Pretoria swimmer handily defeated his peers, with the next-closest competitor represented by Helgaard Muller, who touched in 2:02.87.
Coetze’s performance, comprised of splits of 26.68/29.69 (56.37)/29.90/28.99, checked in as a new season-best. It sliced .31 off the 1:55.57 established last month at the China Open.
Coetze now bumps himself up the world rankings to take over the #2 slot, with only Hungarian Olympic champion Hubert Kos having been faster.
2025-2026 LCM Men 200 BACK
Hubert HUNKos12/061:54.212Lee JuhoKOR1:55.3412/163RomanMITYUKOVSUI1:55.3604/114Hidekazu TakeharaJPN1:55.5009/045PieterCoetzeRSA1:55.5703/22View Top 27»After the race, Coetze told Swimming South Africa, “I used to swim this race very back-end based, and I want to get my body used to going out a bit faster… I would have liked to go out a bit faster than that, but it’s okay.
Regarding claiming his 5th national title this week, Coetze said, “This is only my second meet in about nine months. So I think it’s a great base and I’ve got about two months now to go back to work and make sure I put in a good performance at Commonwealth.”
23-year-old Hannah Pearse was too quick to catch in the women’s edition of the 200m backstroke, getting to the wall in a rapid result of 2:10.92 to kick off the session.
Her outing beat the pack by over two seconds en route to putting her lifetime best on notice. Her PB remains at the 2:10.39 logged at last year’s World University Games to rank as South Africa’s 3rd-best female performer of all time.
On qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, Pearse commented post-race, “It’s surreal. It’s a big dream, so I can’t believe the dream finally came true.
“I knew I had it in me, but I wasn’t sure. It’s been a rough year with lots of ups and downs. So the belief was there, but it was a deep-down belief and we had to really dig deep to find it.”
Erin Gallagher and Caitlin de Lange wrangled up additional events to add to their Commonwealth Games qualification lists.
The pair took the top two spots in the women’s 50m fly, with the former hitting 25.63 to the latter’s 25.98.
“It was always going to be close. It’s all about the start and the finish and timing everything perfectly,” explained Gallagher, who also won the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle titles at these championships.
“You never really know what to expect, and it’s always great when it pays off. But it’s a splash and dash. You don’t have much time to think, you kind of just close your eyes and go for it.”
De Lange agreed. “The 50 is always such a hit-or-miss. From the start you either feel so great or so bad, and you just ride along with it. But that was a really fun race,” she said.
We reported yesterday how 30-year-old Olympian Calvyn Justus is making his comeback after having been out of the water for five years, including a year where he was unable to walk due to a devastating back injury.
Yesterday morning, he ripped a time of 21.97 to take the 50m free top seed before finishing with the bronze in the evening in a time of 22.36.
He continued his momentum into this last day, reaping his first national title in over a decade as he took gold in the men’s 50m fly.
Justus touched in 23.68 as the gold medalist, beating Olympic icon Chad le Clos by just .01.
Le Clos reaped silver in 23.69 and 18-year-old Tai Pearson rounded out the podium in 23.91.
Justus, whose time was only .04 outside his best-ever outing of 23.65 from last month’s Pro Swim Series in Westmont, told Swimming South Africa, “The butterfly’s still so new to me. I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like yet… That was only the second time I’ve ever done it, so it’s still pretty foreign to me and I think I need a lot more work in cleaning up. But we’ll take it, a win’s a win.
“I had a ton of fun racing Chad,” added the Los Angeles-based swimmer. “I grew up with him so it’s kind of like a full circle moment. I think that was a special way to come back to South Africa.”
Of note, le Clos appears to have missed qualification for the Commonwealth Games, unless the federation offers the veteran a discretionary pick outside of having posted a QT at this selection competition. We’ll be inquiring.
Commonwealth Games Qualifiers:
Aimee Canny: 200m freestyle, 100m, 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley Pieter Coetzé: 50m, 100m & 200m backstroke, 50m &100m freestyle Kaylene Corbett: 200m breaststroke Cailtin de Lange: 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly Erin Gallagher: 50m & 100m butterfly Michael Houlie: 50m breaststroke Calvyn Justus: 50m freestyle Rebecca Meder: 200m individual medley Hannah Pearse: 200m backstroke Chris Smith: 50m breaststroke Jessica Thompson: 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle Lara van Niekerk: 50m breaststroke Ruard van Renen: 50m & 100m backstrokeRead the full story on SwimSwam: Justus Wins First Title In A Decade, Coetze Hits 200 Back Season-Best In South Africa
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