Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ryan Coetzee was South Africa’s star performer at the Doha leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup over the weekend.
With Chad le Clos suffering from a stomach bug, Coetzee stepped up to the challenge and was on fire during the first night of the competition where he was edged out in the 100m butterfly by the USA’s Michael Andrew.
Andrew, whose parents were born and raised in South Africa, won the 100m butterfly on Thursday evening in a time of 51.83, while Coetzee finished second in 52.20 and Dutch swimmer Mathys Goosen finishing third in 52.99.
The evening also produced a medal for female swimmer Carina Brand who bagged the bronze in the 200m butterfly in 2:35.58.
She finished third in the all-Hungarian affair with triple Olympic gold medallist Katinka Hosszu winning the race in 2:09.26.
On Saturday evening Coetzee raced to another podium place, winning the bronze in the 50m butterfly in 23.54 behind Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov in 22.82 and Andrew in 23.20. Le Clos finished just outside a medal position in fourth place clocking 23.80.
The FINA Swimming World Cup will continue in Eindhoven from 28 - 30 September.