Defending champion Chad Le Clos crashed out of the 100m butterfly at the world championships in Budapest on Friday night‚ finishing in a tame seventh place as he mistimed his finish and floated into the wall.
After reclaiming his 200m fly crown on Wednesday night he was looking to claim the double in the 100m as he did four years ago in Barcelona.
But the superstar‚ SA’s most decorated Olympian with four medals‚ finished disastrously in the 100m.
Needing to push hard on the final metres‚ he looked tired and was unable to execute his trademark finale of touching the wall at the end of his stroke.
Le Clos fell short by nearly half-a-metre and drifted in like flotsam‚ an error that probably cost him the 0.18sec he would have needed to make the top eight for the final on Saturday night.
His 51.48sec was slower than the 51.28 he had clocked in the morning heats‚ and was nearly a second off his 50.56 personal best.
Le Clos had been looking to clinch his third straight 100m crown‚ a feat matched only by American legend Michael Phelps.
But now he will have to watch from the sidelines what promises to be a battle royale between new American sensation Caeleb Dressel and Olympic champion Joseph Schooling.
Dressel posted the fastest-ever time in a textile costume‚ a 50.08 in the morning heats and then lowered that to 50.07 in the semifinals‚ not long after clocking the fastest time of the 50m freestyle semifinals‚ a 21.29.
Schooling‚ the fourth-fastest of the 100m fly semifinals in 50.87‚ was the previous fastest in a textile costume after his 50.39 from the Rio Games.
Briton Guy James (50.67) and Hungary’s rising star Kristof Milak of Hungary (50.77) were second and third fastest.
For Le Clos‚ these championships have almost been a reversal of the 2016 Olympics‚ where he was pushed off the 200m fly podium‚ but came back to steal a share of silver in the 100m‚ with Phelps and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh.
Phelps retired afterwards‚ but tonight’s showdown will feature four survivors from that Rio final — Schooling‚ Cseh‚ Mehdy Metella of France and China’s Zhuhao Li.
There’ll be no Le Clos.
This is the first time since the 2011 world championships that the South African has failed to reach the 100m final at a major gala.
Back then‚ he was 13th overall in the semifinals; last night he was 12th.
Le Clos was SA’s last hope of another medal before the gala ends on Sunday.
With his 200m gold and Cameron van der Burgh’s 50m breaststroke bronze this week‚ the overall haul of two is SA’s lowest championship return since 2003.
Le Clos crashes out of 100m butterfly at world championships
After reclaiming his 200m fly crown on Wednesday night he was looking to claim the double in the 100m as he did four years ago in Barcelona.
But the superstar‚ SA’s most decorated Olympian with four medals‚ finished disastrously in the 100m.
Needing to push hard on the final metres‚ he looked tired and was unable to execute his trademark finale of touching the wall at the end of his stroke.
Le Clos fell short by nearly half-a-metre and drifted in like flotsam‚ an error that probably cost him the 0.18sec he would have needed to make the top eight for the final on Saturday night.
His 51.48sec was slower than the 51.28 he had clocked in the morning heats‚ and was nearly a second off his 50.56 personal best.
Le Clos had been looking to clinch his third straight 100m crown‚ a feat matched only by American legend Michael Phelps.
But now he will have to watch from the sidelines what promises to be a battle royale between new American sensation Caeleb Dressel and Olympic champion Joseph Schooling.
Dressel posted the fastest-ever time in a textile costume‚ a 50.08 in the morning heats and then lowered that to 50.07 in the semifinals‚ not long after clocking the fastest time of the 50m freestyle semifinals‚ a 21.29.
Schooling‚ the fourth-fastest of the 100m fly semifinals in 50.87‚ was the previous fastest in a textile costume after his 50.39 from the Rio Games.
Briton Guy James (50.67) and Hungary’s rising star Kristof Milak of Hungary (50.77) were second and third fastest.
For Le Clos‚ these championships have almost been a reversal of the 2016 Olympics‚ where he was pushed off the 200m fly podium‚ but came back to steal a share of silver in the 100m‚ with Phelps and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh.
Phelps retired afterwards‚ but tonight’s showdown will feature four survivors from that Rio final — Schooling‚ Cseh‚ Mehdy Metella of France and China’s Zhuhao Li.
There’ll be no Le Clos.
This is the first time since the 2011 world championships that the South African has failed to reach the 100m final at a major gala.
Back then‚ he was 13th overall in the semifinals; last night he was 12th.
Le Clos was SA’s last hope of another medal before the gala ends on Sunday.
With his 200m gold and Cameron van der Burgh’s 50m breaststroke bronze this week‚ the overall haul of two is SA’s lowest championship return since 2003.
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