Chad will come back in 100m, says coach Hill
HE MAY have had the wind knocked out of his sails in the 200m butterfly final, but coach Graham Hill believes Chad le Clos will pick himself up again for the 100m event.
Le Clos suffered a shock defeat, finishing in the dreaded fourth place, with his archrival, American swimming icon Michael Phelps, reclaiming the title he conceded to the South African four years ago.
It was billed as possibly the match-up of the Olympics, and it did not disappoint as the drama unfolded in spectacular fashion.
Turning in second place behind Phelps, it seemed a repeat from London 2012 would play out in front of a boisterous crowd.
The realisation soon sunk in that Le Clos would not only lose his crown but a podium place altogether, touching in fourth place with Phelps winning in 1:53.36.
Hill said everything had gone according to plan over the first three laps.
“At the 150m mark he was good – 1:20.33 – that’s where we wanted to be, and he just didn’t have it to come home,” he said.
“It was a big race and hats off to Michael, the true champion that he is… It just wasn’t Chad’s night tonight, and he still has the 100m butterfly to come, so I am sure he will be back and challenging on Friday night.”
Japan’s Masato Sakai touched in a time of 1:53.40 while Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi posted a time of 1:53.62, with Le Clos hitting the wall in 1:54.06.
Looking up at the results and seeing Sakai and Kenderesi ahead of him in second and third place respectively would have added insult to injury.
Olympic gold medallist and SuperSport pundit Ryk Neethling believed it was the last time Le Clos would feature in the 200m butterfly at a major championship.
“I think he is going to be a great 100m freestyler, he is going to get bigger and stronger,” he said. “It is also a much easier race to train for than the 200m butterfly – it is an animal.”
Le Clos has already demonstrated he is a world-class 200m freestyle swimmer, winning the silver medal the night before the 200m butterfly.
In the first leg of the Fina Swimming World Cup in France last year, Le Clos unleashed a new personal best time in the 100m freestyle, clocking 48.16 seconds, which was also the sixth-fastest time recorded last year.
Neethling was a member of the “awesome foursome” that won the gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Games in world-record time.
He believes Le Clos could dominate the blue-riband event in years to come if he turns his focus to the 100 and 200m freestyle, and the 100m butterfly events.
“After he won freestyle silver the 200m medal I thought it was obvious he was in good shape, swimming a personal best, while his butterfly has been good all season,” Neethling said.
“It was a shock to me, I didn’t expect that to happen. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but I think he may have focused too much on him and Phelps instead of focusing on his own race which he is good at.
“It is just one of those things where you don’t know what happened.”
Neethling said the hype around the 200m butterfly had taken its toll on the swimmers, with the older Phelps handling it better.
Hungarian world champion Laszlo Cseh was the other major casualty in the race, finishing in seventh place despite turning first after the first 50m. “This showdown in the 200m fly just makes the guys crack.”