After winning World Cup, swimmer Pieter Coetzé targets World Championships

Having won the men’s title at the Swimming World Cup, Pieter Coetzé says he is feeling confident in the build-up to the World Short Course Championships to be held in Beijing in December.

Coetzé was superb in the three-leg World Cup campaign, winning eight gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events.

He set a 50m backstroke short-course world record of 22.09 seconds at the second leg of the series in Uzbekistan. He also achieved an African 100m backstroke of 49.11 in the 25-metre pool at the first leg in Azerbaijan before lowering his continental mark to 48.21 in Uzbekistan.

The 22-year-old South African took top spot in the men’s overall standings after the third leg in Kazakhstan which concluded on Saturday, having raked in 172.9 points, finishing ahead of Russian swimmer Egor Kornev who took second place in the standings with 170.7 points.

Coetzé became the fifth SA swimmer, after Chad le Clos (four times), Cameron van der Burgh (three), Ryk Neethling (two) and Matthew Sates to claim the men’s World Cup title. And he admitted it was one of the toughest challenges he had faced in his blooming career.

“It’s a very different kind of achievement compared to anything else. This one is hard work because it’s three weeks that you need to be consistent and stay focused… so I will cherish this forever and I’ll always remember it.”

Short course championships

A four-time medallist at the long-course World Aquatics Championships (held in a 50m pool), Coetzé believed he could put up a fight at the upcoming short-course showpiece.

Though he expected a tougher battle against stronger line-ups, his recent form had given him a boost ahead of the global championships in the Chinese capital.

“It’s exciting to know I can perform in short-course because it’s not something I do often, and you never know, so after these performances I’m very confident heading into it (the World Championships) which helps,” he said.

“I know there will be some guys who weren’t here (at the World Cup) and the standard will be higher, but I’ll be confident and I’ve got a good idea of what I need to go work on now.

“So it’s very exciting, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, but it’s going to be tough.”