South Africa’s swimmers wrapped up the world short-course championships without a medal in Budapest on Sunday evening, the first time in 20 years they’ve missed the podium at this event.
Michael Houlie and Chris Smith were the country’s last chances, but they finished seventh and eighth in the men’s 50m breaststroke final.
Both went slower than their efforts in the semifinals on Saturday. Houlie touched in 25.73 and 18-year-old Smith, who set a 25.66 world junior record the previous day, registered 25.77.Â
Haiyang Qin of China won in 25.42 ahead of Turkey’s world record-holder Emre Sakci (25.56) and Kirill Prigoda of Russia, sharing silver on 25.56.
In the morning heats the women’s 4x100m medley relay team of Milla Drakopoulos, Lara van Niekerk, Rebecca Meder and Jessica Thompson set a 3min 57.68sec African record, which placed them 14th overall.
The lack of silverware does not necessarily mean panic stations for South African swimming — Olympic breaststroke queen Tatjana Smith has retired while Pieter Coetzé and Matthew Sates gave this gala a miss.
The last time they failed to make a podium, at Indianapolis 2004, the main stars of the team were also absent. On form, Coetzé and Sates — and obviously Smith — would have made a few podiums between them in Hungary.Â
It’s also worth remembering that short-course swimming over 25-metre laps is the equivalent of cricket’s T20 and doesn’t always translate into strong performances in the traditional 50m pool.
In total only four South African swimmers — Houlie, Smith, Ruard van Renen and stand-out performer Rebecca Meder — made finals in Hungary.
Van Renen achieved it in the 100m backstroke while Meder made it in the 100m and 200m breaststroke and 100m and 200m individual medley.
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