Prinsloo ready to challenge Ryk's record

In the midst of all the excitement of the national records which fell at the SA short-course swimming championships in Cape Town last weekend, a notable achievement missed out on a mention.

Troyden Prinsloo of Kloof became the first man in a South African pool to swim under the 15-minute barrier for the 1 500m freestyle.

Prinsloo destroyed the opposition, finishing in 14:51.91 to be more than a minute ahead of runner-up Morne Boshoff of Tuks (15:52.40) and Riaan Schoeman of Seals (15:52.95).

"It was a major achievement," said his coach, Nick Gray this week. "What made it all the more impressive was that he was not tapered and swam unshaved."

This was mainly because Prinsloo's focus is on the world short-course championships in Indianapolis from October 4 to 7.

There, Gray is confident that Prinsloo can go close to Olympic relay champion Ryk Neethling's 1 500m record of 14:39.04 which was set at a university meet in the United States in May 2000 in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics.

"Troyden's time now ranks him in the top 20 in the world, and hopefully with some top-class opposition around him at Indianapolis he can go for Ryk's record," said Gray.

"It's been a long time since anyone has put his hand up and said he's prepared to have a go at Ryk's record," he added.

Gray has a second swimmer in his squad who is going to the world championships.

Kathryn Meaklim has shown great improvement recently, and took more than eight seconds off her previous best in the 800m freestyle, and improved her time considerably in the 200m individual medley too.

Meaklim won two silvers and to bronze medals at the SA championships, finishing behind Tamaryn Laubscher of Tuks in the medley and clocked 8:41.56 in the 800m to be runner-up behind Melissa Corfe of Mr Price Seagulls as the latter smashed the SA record of 8:38.45 by eight seconds.