Coetze denied another gold medal in pulsating backstroke final as Corbett snatches bronze

Pieter Coetzé narrowly missed out on a second gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in Friday's 200m backstroke final, while Kaylene Corbett took bronze in the women’s 200m breaststroke final.

Coetzé eventually had to settle for silver behind Olympic champion Hubert  Kόs of Hungary.

The Pretoria swimmer went out hard in the final, turning first at both the 50m and 100m marks under world record pace, but was hunted down in the second half of the race by Kόs.

South Africa’s newly crowned 100m backstroke world champion came back at Kόs in the final metres of the race. He touched the wall in a time of 1:53.36, just 0.17 seconds slower than Kos (1:53.19). Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France took the bronze in 1:54.52.   

Coetzé’s time took almost a second off the African record he set in the semifinals and is the seventh-fastest time in history. Both Kόs and Coetzé’s times beat Kόs’ gold medal-winning time from last year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

“Coming into this, I didn’t really expect to go that fast. This has exceeded all my expectations and it’s just a big honour to be in a race like that,” said an elated Coetzé afterwards.

“I kind of expected to be out very fast. I could feel that I was moving at a high pace, and I knew that I would feel it in the end, and I did. But it’s a big PB for me so I’m super-happy with the time.”

Just one race later, Corbett dived in for the final of the 200m breaststroke. The 26-year-old reached the first turn in fifth place and steadily worked her way up to fourth by the second and third. A final push saw her surging into medal contention, claiming a joint bronze medal with Belarusian Alina Zmushka in a time of 2:23.52.

Olympic champion Kate Douglass of the USA took the gold in a championship record time of 2:18.50, the second-fastest time in history, with world record-holder Evgeniia Chikunova second in 2:19.96.

“It’s been a really hectic year, and it just feels like it really came together when it should, so I’m just really, really stoked about it. I’m very, very happy,” said an emotional Corbett after claiming her first world championship medal.

“I just think that I gave everything I had, and I’m just really proud of myself with that performance.”

Meanwhile, Erin Gallagher added more joy for the South Africans, finishing second in her 50m butterfly semifinal to book a spot in Saturday’s final.