Commonwealth Games: Lara Van Niekerk and Tatjana Schoenmaker Lead the Way As Team South Africa Win More Medals

Commonwealth Games: Lara Van Niekerk and Tatjana Schoenmaker Lead the Way As Team South Africa Win More Medals

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:08 PM
  • South Africa bagged gold, silver, and bronze medals in the pool in Session 10 at the Commonwealth Games
  • Lara van Niekerk did the double by winning the 50m Breaststroke event and the 100m Breaststroke event
  • Chad le Clos had the chance to earn his 19th Commonwealth Games medal but fell just short of the podium places

South Africa's swimmers once again dominated in the swimming pool today.

Team SA grabbed gold, silver, and bronze thanks to Lara van Niekerk, Tatjana Schoenmaker, and Pieter Coetzé.

Commonwealth Games, Lara Van Niekerk, Tatjana Schoenmaker, Team South Africa, Win, Swimmers, Medals, Aimee Canny, Chad le Clos, Pieter Coetzé
Lara Van Niekerk, Tatjana Schoenmaker, and Pieter Coetzé grabbed gold, silver, and bronze for Team South Africa in the pool at the Commonwealth Games. Image: Elsa/Shaun Botterill
Source: Getty Images

Van Niekerk stole the show in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke event as she beat her teammate, Schoenmaker, to the gold medal. Australia's Chelsea Hodges bagged a bronze as the South Africans dominated.

Van Niekerk has now done the double at the Commonwealth Games as she won the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Breaststroke events.

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Pieter Coetzé then grabbed a bronze medal for the country when he finished third in the Men’s 200m Backstroke event. Coetzé finished behind the eventual winner Brodie Williams from England and Bradley Woodward from Australia, who finished second.

Aimee Canny also represented South Africa in the Women's 100 Freestyle event but finished sixth. Chad le Close then had the chance to become the most successful athlete at the Commonwealth Games by winning 19 medals. Sadly le Clos finished fourth in the Men's 100m Freestyle event.

Tatjana Schoenmaker wins Commonwealth gold in 200m breaststroke event as Kaylene Corbett grabs bronze

South Africa has its third gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Golden girl Tatjana Schoenmaker grabbed the gold as she dominated the Women’s 200m Breaststroke event.

The Olympic champion led from start to finish as she finished ahead of Australia’s Jenna Strauch. South Africa’s Kaylene Corbett finished in third place as South Africa won gold and bronze in the race.

South African swimming great Chad Le Clos equals the Commonwealth Games record

South African swimming star Chad le Clos won his 18th Commonwealth Games medal on Sunday to equal the all-time record after taking silver in the men's 200m butterfly.

Le Clos's milestone comes 10 years to the day since he beat American great Michael Phelps in the same event at the 2012 London Olympics.

The total number of medals put him in league with shooters Michael Gault (England) and Phil Adams (Australia).

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.