South African swimmers undoubtedly have the ability to take care of highlights. Rebecca Meder’s performance at the World Championship in Japan underlined this statement.
The 20-year-old swimmer improved her own South African record in the heats of the 200 m medley event. Her good time of 2:10.95 meant she had the 11th fastest qualifying time for the semi-final.
Although she was not able to build on her initial spectacular time – a time of 2:11.16 meant that she could not qualify for the finals – she is still in her element with her performance.
“I was quite emotional when I saw the time; it didn’t feel that fast, but everything just fell into place for me. To improve my own national record by just under half a second means that a time barrier has been removed – to swim a 2:10 is incredible,” said Meder.
The fact that she competed with some of the world’s leading swimmers also spurred her to greater heights. After all, she had reminded herself beforehand that she could definitely chat with them.
“Towards the end you had to throw everything into the fight, but I am very grateful to be in the same qualifying round as a couple of Olympic champion swimmers.”
She is also satisfied with her performance in the semi-final.
“This is my second best time ever in the 200 m medley; i can’t look at it and feel disappointed. It is great for me to be ranked as the tenth best swimmer in the world in this event and things are looking good with a view to the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Tatjana Schoenmaker and Lara van Niekerk are also in action today during the 100 m breaststroke heats.
Then Roland Schoeman finished 44th in the 50 butterfly event with his time of 24.02 seconds.
