World champ Pieter Coetzé being analysed by global rivals, warns coach Meiring

South Africa’s newest swimming world champion, Pieter Coetzé, is being closely studied and carefully analysed by his international rivals, his coach Rocco Meiring has warned.

Meiring was speaking on Saturday night at the Swimming South Africa annual awards in Johannesburg where Coetzé was named Male Swimmer of the Year and Meiring was given senior coach.

Another of Meiring’s charges, world championship bronze medallist Kaylene Corbett, was handed Female Swimmer of the Year and Tuks, where they all train, was recognised as Club of the Year.

Coetzé wasn’t able to collect his award because he was winging his way to the US for a gala to start getting used to the acclimatisation process for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Pieter has not been in the US before,” said Meiring. “I think it’s important for him to get used to travelling in that direction. LA is 11 hours [behind]. I worked in Canada where it was an 11-hour time difference and it’s not a joke.”

Coetzé won the 100m backstroke world title at the global showpiece in Singapore earlier this year and also took silver medals in the 200m backstroke and 50m backstroke races.

“After the world championships Pieter is not a secret anymore and it changes the game completely … I’ve spent time on what I need to put into the programme to do a better coaching job.

“What do we need to introduce? We spend time on that just so we can give him a fighting chance against the rest of the world that’s got a lot of resources and they’ve analysed him already and training their swimmers on it.”

Meiring prefers his swimmers flying under the radar, especially going into an Olympics, as he did with Tatjana Smith ahead of her success at Tokyo 2020.

But Coetzé has said he prefers the favourite tag. “Pieter is Pieter and as a coach I’ve got to adapt to his way.”

He pointed out that in the 100m backstroke, eight of the 10-best all-time performances were swum in that final. “That’s what we’re up against. Those guys are not going to go away and others are going to come out of the woodwork in the next two-and-a-half years.

Meiring praised Coetzé, Corbett and Erin Gallagher, who reached the 50m butterfly final at the world championships, for their academic progress.

“If you look at Kaylene, she’s got three degrees behind her name now. And Erin is going to be finishing her BSc … with distinction.”

I’ll maximise my performance there quite a bit. That’s where I’ll be preparing for Commonwealth Games [in Glasgow next year].

—  Kris Mihaylov

Even Coetzé, who had resisted studying, had done well in his first year of BA. “Pieter is not your normal student that just got 50% and 51%. He’s way, way above that.

“Me, as a coach at a university programme, I’m very proud.”

Corbett, who finished third in the 200m breaststroke in Singapore, was also unable to attend the event because she was wrapping up her end-of-year exams.

Kris Mihaylov, who received the Most Promising Athlete of the Year after winning the 200m butterfly gold at the world junior championships, is preparing to head to the University of Georgia to study business.

“They have all the resources … They have nutritionists, mentality coaches, a lot of resources that are really important and are fundamental as well as facilities,” said the 18-year-old.

“I’ll maximise my performance there quite a bit. That’s where I’ll be preparing for Commonwealth Games [in Glasgow next year].”

But he admitted that he and Coetzé had already been talking about the prospects of a 4x100m freestyle relay team in a bid to emulate the golden success of the outfit that took Olympic gold at Athens 2004.

“I’ve been speaking to Pieter and he’s been pressing me in a friendly way to improve my 100m freestyle to get into the top four for the relays for the Olympics.”

Other winners of the awards, sponsored by Bombela Concession Company:

• Male Para Swimmer of the Year: Christian Sadie
• Female Para Swimmer of the Year: Minke Janse van Rensburg
• Female Water Polo Player of the Year: Boati Motau
• Male Water Polo Player of the Year: Mitchell Garreau
• Diver of the Year: Bailey Heydra
• Artistic Swimmer of the Year: Tayla-Jade van Huyssteen
• Male Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Connor Buck
• Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Callan Lotter
• Junior Coach of the Year: David Glover
• Aquatics Personality of the Year: Aaron Putz