SA stars Schoenmaker and Van Niekerk land early qualifying times

Olympic star Tatjana Schoenmaker landed one of four World Championship qualifying times on the opening morning of the South African National Championships in Gqeberha on Wednesday.

She and Commonwealth Games star Lara van Niekerk did their efforts in the women’s 100m breaststroke heats, while Aimee Canney cracked it in the women’s 200m freestyle and Pieter Coetzé in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Defending champion Van Niekerk was the quickest in the heats in 1 min 06.96 sec, while Schoenmaker, owner of the Olympic 100m breaststroke record, won her heat in 1:07.00.

University of Virginia swimmer Canney went 1:58.20.

Coetzé clocked 53.18, nearly a full second inside the 54.03 criterion.

The World Championships will be staged in Fukuoka, Japan, in July.