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Pieter Coetze wins gold in 200m backstroke at World Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, Peru

It’s World Juniors GOLD in record time for Coetze

It's World Juniors GOLD in record time for Coetze

South Africa, there’s a new kid on the blocks. Today he’s the World Junior champion, in less than two years’ time we could be looking at the Olympic gold medallist. Pieter Coetze continued where he left off at the Commonwealth Games by taking gold in the 200m backstroke at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, Peru.

Coetze, still only 18, had won a gold, silver and bronze in the backstroke at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and a silver in the 100m at the World Juniors earlier in the programme. Then, on the final night of competition, he swam a new meet record to win the 200 backstroke. Coetze clocked 1:56.05 to break the championship record of 1:56.69 that Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez set back in 2017 in Indianapolis.

Coetze won the event by more than two seconds and was followed by Japan’s Hideki Takarafa and Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk.

In addition to being a new meet record in this event, Coetze’s 1:56.05 is a new personal best and improves upon the 1:56.77 he swam at the Commonwealth Games in August 2022. This swim also gets Coetze even closer to the South African national record in this event of 1:55.75 that George Du Rand holds from the 2009 World Championships. Coetze didn’t race this event at the 2022 World Championships, but his time here would have been good enough for 4th overall in the final.

This isn’t the first meet record that Coetze has timed at 2022 World Juniors and the 200m makes it a trifecta. During the semi-finals of both the 50m and 100m backstroke, Coetze lowered the CR to a 24.58 and a 52.95.

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SA Sport, Mens, Swimming, World Championships