Chad le Clos fails to qualify for 100m butterfly in Tokyo, but …

On Sunday’s penultimate day of the 2021 SA National Aquatic Championships at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha, swimmers took part in the 100m butterfly, vying for a spot on the SA team for the Tokyo Olympics.

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The biggest surprise of the evening was that Chad le Clos missed the required cut to automatically qualify for Tokyo in the 100m butterfly when he posted 52.13 in winning.

His time was outside of the qualification time of 51.96.

South Africa’s selection criteria for Tokyo states that should no athlete achieve the FINA ‘A’ standard at the national championships, any athlete who has been under the required time between March 1, 2019 and June 27, 2021 will be considered for selection.

Since Le Clos’ winning time was slower than the qualification time he will need to rely on those secondary considerations to qualify for the event.

Luckily for the 28-year-old veteran, he was under that mark back in 2019 when he swam 51.16 in taking bronze at the FINA World Championships.

Chad le Clos is one of two South African men under the FINA ‘A’ qualification time during that window as Ryan Coetzee swam 51.85 in April 2019.

In the 100 butterfly final at the South African nationals, Le Clos out-touched second placed Matthew Sates who posted a time of 52.15.

Unlike Le Clos, Sates has not been under the FINA ‘A’ time required as his fastest-ever time remains 52.11 from February 2021.

Coetzee finished last in the race in a pedestrian 55.57.

It remains to be seen what SASCOC decides to do in terms of who they will send to the Tokyo Olympics in the event.

Le Clos is among the most accomplished swimmers in the 100m butterfly’s history, having won silver at the two most recent Olympic Games along with gold at the 2013 and 2015 FINA World Championships, bronze at the 2019 FINA World Championships and gold at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Le Clos has also already qualified to swim the 200m butterfly in Tokyo when he swam 1:55.88 to win the final and dip under the selection standard of 1:56.48.