Pieter Coetzé picked up two more medals at the world student games on Monday night, including his second gold of the showpiece, to lift SA to third on the medals table.
Coetzé won the men’s 50m backstroke and finished second in the 100m freestyle to take his personal tally to three at the Universiade, which is mostly spread across Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr region.
Guy Brooks, Ruard van Renen and Olivia Nel claimed their second bronze gongs at the gala as they finished third in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay alongside Michaela de Villiers.
By early Tuesday morning SA’s tally at the games stood at two gold, two silver and two bronze, placing them third behind the US and Japan.
Coetzé dived into the freestyle race first, touching in 48.12sec to finish behind American Matthew King by 11-hundredths of a second.
A little more than an hour later he edged the backstroke event, finishing first in 24.49, two-hundredths of a second in front of Korean Yoon Jihwan.
All SA’s medals have come from swimming, which is being staged in Berlin, with Coetzé winning the 100m backstroke in a 51.99 world lead on Saturday night.
Other medals have come from double Commonwealth Games champion Lara van Niekerk, who claimed silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke, and Brooks, Van Renen, Nel and Simone Moll with bronze in the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
Athletics started in Bochum on Monday, with junior world champion Bayanda Walaza winning his heat in 10.27sec, the second-fastest time of the round behind the man he beat into second place at the under-20 global competition, Thailand’s Puripol Boonson (10.23).
Walaza’s compatriot Kyle Zinn was third quickest in 10.33.
Walaza and Zinn will compete in the 100m semifinals on Tuesday night, with the final scheduled for later on Tuesday night.
The games end on Sunday.
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