Disappointment for SA swimmers on opening day of Singapore world champs
'I didn't realise that I had turned third, that's really cool, so I'm very happy with my front-end speed,' she said after the race. 'I think it's the fastest I've been out in the 100 before and it felt very comfortable and very chilled, so I think that's a very good sign for the 50, which is still in a couple of days.
'I just have to switch off from the race. Even though it didn't go the way I wanted it to, there are some good things to take away and look forward to the rest of the racing which is the 100 free and the 50 fly.
'There's still a long way to go. It's day one of the competition so I'm looking forward to the rest of my races and we'll see what we can produce. Hopefully the 50 fly will be a better outcome than this one.'
Other South Africans in action in the heats earlier in the day were Aimee Canny, who finished 19th overall in the 200m individual medley heats after swimming a time of 2:12.70 and Chris Smith, who finished 25th overall in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:00.85. Hannah Robertson was 27th in the 400m freestyle heats in 4:22.69, while in the men's event, Matthew Caldwell was 39th in 4:01.45.
The South African women's 4x100m freestyle relay team of twin sisters, Georgia and Olivia Nel, Cailtin de Lange and Hannah Robertson finished sixth in their heat in 3:45.33 and did not progress to the final.
The World Aquatics Championships in Singapore continue on Monday, with Pieter Coetzé kicking off his campaign in the 100m backstroke while Meder will be back in action in the 100m breaststroke, Matt Sates in the 200m freestyle, and Catherine van Rensburg in the 1500m freestyle.
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