Neethling hopes for fan-tastic time in Durban

Ryk Neethling is looking forward to receiving good support from the Durban crowds when the Fina World Cup rolls into town early next month.

Neethling has spent the past weekend competing in the Mr Price Seagulls short-course gala at King's Park, where he was given fantastic support by local fans, who turned out in record numbers to watch him compete in seven races against the local swimmers and in a solo time trial against the clock.

Neethling has a hectic schedule right now as he builds up to the world cup series, and he's training about 10km a day at a pace that most swimmers can only marvel at.

He's also facing the weight of expectation from his home public that comes with being an Olympic and world record holder.

"The pressure is there, definitely. But it's how you handle that pressure... I see it as support from the fans," he said.

With the world cup now spread out across five continents over a four-month period, Neethling is not going to be taking a rest in the near future - "my next break will probably come in April", he added.

Neethling will be racing in five of the legs of the world cup, in Durban, Seoul and Sydney for fast times, and in Sweden and Brazil in order to pay the bills.

Every aspect has been carefully considered by a man widely regarded as one of the most focused and professional of sportsmen on the planet.

There's the Commonwealth Games to ponder in March, for example.

With Melbourne being the venue, the swimming-crazy Australian fans will provide their team with massive support.

And after the Aussies missed out on an Olympic 4x100m freestyle relay medal - who can forget that glorious Athens evening when South Africa took gold in a world record time, followed by the Dutch and the United States - the host nation will be in search of a little revenge.

"Don't forget, they won a medal at the World Championships," said Ryk.

"They have home advantage, they are all super competitive - don't think it will be easy for a single second."

In fact, it might not be the Aussies that the South Africans need to keep an eye on - the silver medal winners behind the United States in Montreal were Canada, who clocked a very competitive 3:16.44, more than a second better than the Aussies. And the men from Maple Leaf country will also be in action Down Under.

While on the subject of relays, we got to talking of South Africa's new women's relay project which was designed to raise the bar among our women swimmers after none qualified to go to Athens last year.

"I was sceptical at the beginning because the girls' times were so slow.

"But they have already improved a lot and if they can get a little better - obviously the improvements will come in smaller margins now - they can win a medal in Melbourne."

He's also glad to see his former team-mate Charlene Wittstock back in the water, and expects to see her included in the team to go to the Commonwealth Games, where he believes her vast experience can be beneficial to the team.

The only man in the world to have posted a top-25 time in every freestyle event from 50m to 1 500m, Neethling had a strong word of advice for his younger rivals.

"For those younger guys who think that racing the 50 and 100m is what it's all about when training for the 200m... don't neglect the 400m.

"It's where you develop your strength to be able to swim a good 200m," said Neethling, who was the fastest man in the world last year in the 400m freestyle - the benefits are clear to see.

Of the Seagulls gala, Neethling was delighted to see the fantastic crowd support: "The stands have been full and the public have been great and really supportive.

"I'm looking forward to more of the same here (at the opening leg of the world cup from November 11-13) next month."