South Africa at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships
Flag of South Africa
FINA code	RSA
National federation	Swimming South Africa
Website	swimsa.org
in Fukuoka, Japan
Competitors	51 in 5 sports
Medals Ranked 17th	Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze 0 Total 2
World Aquatics Championships appearances
1973 1975 1978 1982 1986 1991 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024

South Africa competed at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan from 14 to 30 July.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Tatjana Schoenmaker	Swimming	Women's 200 m breaststroke	July 28
Silver	Tatjana Schoenmaker	Swimming	Women's 100 m breaststroke	July 25

Athletes by discipline

The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Championships per discipline.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Artistic swimming	0	3	3
Diving	1	3	4
Open water swimming	3	3	6
Swimming	4	7	11
Water polo	14	13	27
Total	22	29	51

Artistic swimming

Main article: Artistic swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa entered 3 artistic swimmers. ^[1]

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Skye MacDonald	Solo technical routine	158.9600	26	Did not advance
	Solo free routine	122.4375	22	Did not advance
Jess Pretorius Laura Strugnell	Duet technical routine	126.7933	38	Did not advance
	Duet free routine	121.1624	28	Did not advance

Diving

Main article: Diving at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa entered 4 divers. ^{[2] [3]}

Men

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Semifinal		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Stefan Steenkamp	1 m springboard	219.30	61	—		Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries		Semifinal		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Bailey Heydra	1 m springboard	202.00	36	—		Did not advance
	3 m springboard	188.40	49	Did not advance
Julia Vincent	1 m springboard	242.25	6 Q	—		227.05	11
	3 m springboard	277.70	14 Q	295.95	11 Q	297.30	10
Bailey Heydra Zalika Methula	3 m synchro springboard	220.14	17	—		Did not advance

Open water swimming

Main article: Open water swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa entered 6 open water swimmers. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Men

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Joshua Ashley	Men's 10 km	2:04:53.6	52
Connor Buck	Men's 5 km	56:52.4	23
	Men's 10 km	2:01:34.7	43
Matthew Caldwell	Men's 5 km	DNF

Women

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Kate Beavon	Women's 5 km	1:02:46.5	42
Amica de Jager	Women's 5 km	1:01:28.9	24
	Women's 10 km	2:10:31.9	40
Tory Earle	Women's 10 km	2:19:27.7	51

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Amica de Jager Kate Beavon Matthew Caldwell Connor Buck	Team relay	1:16:12.1	14

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

South Africa entered 11 swimmers. ^[7] Chad Le Clos was originally named in the team, however withdrew due to illness. ^[8]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Michael Houlie	50 m breaststroke	27.31	14 Q	27.57	16	Did not advance
	100 m breaststroke	1:01.58	30	Did not advance
Clayton Jimmie	100 m freestyle	49.95	43	Did not advance
	50 m backstroke	25.97	37	Did not advance
Righardt Muller	200 m freestyle	1:52.25	44	Did not advance
	800 m freestyle	8:07.08	31	—		Did not advance
	1500 m freestyle	15:33.82	23	—		Did not advance
Roland Schoeman	50 m freestyle	22.87	50	Did not advance
	50 m butterfly	24.02	44	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Aimee Canny	100 m freestyle	54.60	14 Q	54.87	16	Did not advance
	200 m freestyle	1:59.30	24	Did not advance
Emma Chelius	50 m freestyle	25.34	23	Did not advance
Milla Drakopoulos	50 m backstroke	29.31	37	Did not advance
	100 m backstroke	1:02.77	35	Did not advance
Trinity Hearne	100 m butterfly	1:00.27	29	Did not advance
	200 m butterfly	2:14.78	26	Did not advance
Rebecca Meder	200 m individual medley	2:10.95 NR	11 Q	2:11.16	10	Did not advance
	400 m individual medley	4:45.68	21	—		Did not advance
Tatjana Schoenmaker	50 m breaststroke	30.70	14	Withdraw
	100 m breaststroke	1:05.56	3 Q	1:05.53	3 Q	1:05.84
	200 m breaststroke	2:22.92	2 Q	2:21.31	1 Q	2:20.80
Lara van Niekerk	50 m breaststroke	30.76	17 Q	29.91	3 Q	30.09	4
	100 m breaststroke	1:07.03	18	Did not advance
Aimee Canny Emma Chelius Milla Drakopoulos Trinity Hearne	4 × 100 m freestyle relay	3:45.54	17	—		Did not advance

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Clayton Jimmie Aimee Canny Roland Schoeman Rebecca Meder	4 × 100 m freestyle relay	3:30.16 AF	18	Did not advance

Water polo

Main article: Water polo at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

Summary

Team	Event	Group stage				Playoff	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
South Africa	Men's tournament	Montenegro L 10–35	Serbia L 5–30	Spain L 6–27	4	—	—	Argentina L 6–15	China L 8–16	16
South Africa	Women's tournament	Greece L 2–24	Italy L 2–24	Argentina W 12–9	3 QP	Canada L 6–21	—	France L 6–20	New Zealand L 6–25	12

Men's tournament

Main article: Water polo at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

Team roster

The following is the South African roster. ^[9]

Head coach: Vaughn Marlow

• 1 Lwazi Madi GK
• 2 Chad Roman FP
• 3 Niall Wheeler FP
• 4 Ignardus Badenhorst FP
• 5 Cameron Laurenson FP
• 6 Ross Stone FP
• 7 Dane Tucker FP
• 8 Manqoba Bungane FP
• 9 Dylan Cronje FP
• 10 Joshua Faber FP
• 11 Todd Howard FP
• 12 Jonathan Swanepoel FP
• 13 Gareth May GK
• Sven van Zyl FP

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	0	0	54	27	+27	9	Quarterfinals
2	Serbia	3	1	1	0	1	61	36	+25	5	Playoffs
3	Montenegro	3	1	0	1	1	57	38	+19	4
4	South Africa	3	0	0	0	3	21	92	−71	0

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

17 July 2023 17:30	Report	Montenegro	35–10	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Sebastien Dervieux (FRA), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters:6–1, 10–0, 9–5, 10–4
		Radović 7	Goals	four players 2

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19 July 2023 16:00	Report	South Africa	5–30	Serbia	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: David Couper (NZL), Chisato Kurosaki (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 1–8, 1–9, 1–7, 2–6
		Laurenson 2	Goals	Jakšić, Rašović 6

---

21 July 2023 10:30	Report	South Africa	6–27	Spain	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Sebastien Dervieux (FRA), Natalia Markopoulou (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 2–8, 2–7, 2–8, 0–4
		Badenhorst 2	Goals	Valera 5

13–16th place semifinals

23 July 2023 10:30	Report	Argentina	15–6	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Nóra Debreceni (HUN), David Couper (NZL)
		Score by quarters:3–0, 4–2, 5–1, 3–3
		Camnasio 4	Goals	Wheeler 2

15th place game

25 July 2023 09:00	Report	China	16–8	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Germán Moller (ARG), Hélène Painchaud (CAN)
		Score by quarters:3–2, 4–2, 4–1, 5–3
		Chen Z. 7	Goals	Badenhorst, Howard 2

Women's tournament

Main article: Water polo at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships – Women's tournament

Team roster

The following is the South African roster. ^[10]

Head coach: Nicola Barrett

• 1 Meghan Maartens GK
• 2 Tumi Macdonell FP
• 3 Annie Thornton-Dibb FP
• 4 Boati Motau FP
• 5 Megan Sileno FP
• 6 Hanna Muller FP
• 7 Shakira January FP
• 8 Esihle Zondo FP
• 9 Ruby Versfeld FP
• 10 Nicola Macleod FP
• 11 Chloe Meecham FP
• 12 Kelsey White FP
• 13 Olufunke Gando GK

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	3	3	0	0	0	61	16	+45	9	Quarterfinals
2	Italy	3	2	0	0	1	63	19	+44	6	Playoffs
3	South Africa	3	1	0	0	2	16	57	−41	3
4	Argentina	3	0	0	0	3	12	60	−48	0

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

16 July 2023 17:30	Report	Greece	24–2	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Nicola Johnson (AUS), Darren Spiritsanto (USA)
		Score by quarters:7–1, 6–1, 6–0, 5–0
		Fountotou, E. Plevritou 4	Goals	Sileno, Zondo 1

---

18 July 2023 12:00	Report	South Africa	2–24	Italy	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Jennifer McCall (USA), Chisato Kurosaki (JPN)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 0–7, 1–7, 0–8
		MacDonell, Meecham 1	Goals	Bettini, Giustini 4

---

20 July 2023 09:00	Report	Argentina	9–12	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: David Gómez (ESP), Jennifer McCall (USA),
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 3–5, 2–2, 2–3
		Auliel 4	Goals	Meecham 3

Playoffs

22 July 2023 18:30	Report	South Africa	6–21	Canada	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Nicola Johnson (AUS), David Couper (NZL)
		Score by quarters: 1–6, 1–4, 1–4, 3–7
		Thornton-Dibb 2	Goals	Wright 4

9–12th place semifinals

24 July 2023 13:30	Report	France	20–6	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Hélène Painchaud (CAN), Germán Moller (ARG)
		Score by quarters:4–1, 6–0, 5–4, 5–1
		Vernoux 6	Goals	Thornton-Dibb 3

Eleventh place game

26 July 2023 09:00	Report	New Zealand	25–6	South Africa	Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka Referees: Chisato Kurosaki (JPN), Adil Aimbetov (KAZ)
		Score by quarters:7–0, 6–3, 6–1, 6–2
		Houghton 7	Goals	Meecham, Versfeld 2

References

1. "Artistic Swimming Team Announcement" (pdf). Swimming South Africa . 10 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
2. "Diving Team Announcement" (pdf). Swimming South Africa . 26 May 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
3. "20th World Aquatics World Championships Diving Entry List" (PDF). Omega Timing. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
4. "Open Water Swimming Team Announcement" (pdf). Swimming South Africa . 2 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
5. "20th World Aquatics World Championships Open Water Swimming Entry List - Men" (PDF). Omega Timing. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
6. "20th World Aquatics World Championships Open Water Swimming Entry List - Women" (PDF). Omega Timing. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
7. Pelshaw, Anya (16 June 2023). "Matt Sates and Pieter Coetze Missing From Updated South African Roster For Worlds". SwimSwam . Retrieved 7 July 2023.
8. "Following Illness, Multi-Time Titlist Chad Le Clos Opting Out of World Championships". Swimming World . 10 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
9. "20th World Aquatics World Championships Men's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
10. "20th World Aquatics World Championships Women's Water Polo Team Roster RSA" (PDF). Omega Timing. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.