Judging by what has been happening during the South African Senior Swimming Championships in Durban it would seem as if Tuks is where talented female swimmers learn how to become champions.
After the first two days, the Tuks swimmers had already won three gold medals as well as two silver medals. However, that is not the big story. Last year’s Commonwealth champion, Tatjana Schoenmaker, as well as Kaylene Corbett and Nathania van Niekerk all, have qualified for the World Championships.
Schoenmaker and Corbett did so in the 200m-breaststroke. During the morning’s heats, their respective times were 2:24.11 and 2:24.59. Schoenmaker won the final swimming 2:24.44 with Corbett touching the wall in a time of 2:25.62. The qualifying standard is 2:25.91.
Corbett’s continual improvement in the 200m-breaststroke is undoubtedly one of the season’s big success stories. At the end of last year, her personal best time was 2:27.30. She only started training at Tuks after last year’s Commonwealth Games.
“I must admit at first I was in for quite a rude awakening. The number of kilometres I had to swim during the week doubled. It was rough at first, but as my body adapted to the more serious training regime, I was amazed in the changes in my body.”
Corbett suffered a slight setback over the second half of last year when she injured her ankle ligaments. In hindsight, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it gave her time to strengthen her upper body.
Van Niekerk won the 200m-backstroke in a personal best time of 2:11.37 to qualify for the World Championships. She is the first to admit that after last year’s Commonwealth Games she was down and out. That is why she was genuinely happy as to how she performed.
“It’s been really tough to stay motivated and to keep working as hard as I have during the difficult times, but I am so proud of myself for pushing through and for finally getting the breakthrough I have been praying for. I could not be happier. None of this would have been possible without the incredible support staff at TuksSwimming.”
The Tuks head coach, Rocco Meiring, praised Schoenmaker for her consistency managing to qualify in both her 200m-breaststroke-races for the World Championships.
“You are making more of an impact than you might realise. You are leading the way for our girls back into world swimming. It was amazing to see the crowd get behind you when you lined up to race the final.”
The 16-year old Duné Coetzee completed a hat trick by winning the 200m-butterfly. It is the third consecutive year that she won the event at the South African Senior Championships. The last time the Tuks swimmer got beaten in the event was during the 2016 national championships. She was only 13 years old at the time.
She set a new personal best with her winning time of 2:10.89 just missing out qualifying for the World Championships. Coetzee finished second in the 200m-freestyle in a time of 2:01.09.
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