Le Clos and Schoeman keep shining

Le Clos and Schoeman keep shining

Chad le Clos and Roland Schoeman continued to head the South African charge in the Fina World Cup series, contributing five of the squad's six medals on the opening day of the Doha last night.

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The duo were again locked in a tussle in the men's 50m butterfly final, with veteran sprinter Schoeman winning gold in 22.30 seconds and Le Clos snatching silver in 22.41. Frenchman Jeremy Stravius held on for bronze in 22.58.

Earlier, Schoeman had cruised to victory in the 50m freestyle in 25.89. He was hardly challenged by Florent Manaudou, who was second in 26.54, and Hendrik Feldwehr who took third in 27.03.

Le Clos was perhaps even more impressive, adding gold in the 200m butterfly in 1:50.39, a little more than one second outside his world record. Pawel Korzeniowski ended in the silver-medal position in 1:51.52, and Bence Biczo of Hungary secured bronze nearly four seconds further back.

The South African also topped the podium in the 400m individual medley, holding off a late charge from Hungarian David Verraszto, to win by 0.72 seconds in 4:03.23. Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia took third place in 4:09.28.

Meanwhile, Myles Brown added the silver medal in the men's 400m freestyle final.

Brown touched the wall in 3:39.98, with Robert Hurley of Australia winning the race in 3:39.59. Mads Glaesner of Denmark was well behind, in third position, in 3:42.03.

(File photo:Gallo Images)

- Sapa

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