Smith fastest for 200m breaststroke semis, Corbett also through

South Africa’s golden girl, Tatjana Smith has shown no mental or physical fatigue from her gold medal victory in the women’s 100 meters breaststroke at the Paris Olympic Games on Monday evening. The 27-year-old set the fastest qualifying time in the heats of the 200 meters breaststroke on Wednesday morning.

Swimming in heat one, she touched the wall in 2 min, 21.57 seconds. Although way off her Olympic Games record set in Tokyo three years ago, Smith’s time was more than 1.5 seconds faster that the next best time achieved by Tes Schouten of the Netherlands.

Smith’s compatriot, Kaylene Corbett, also qualified for this evening’s semifinals of the 200 meters breastsroke, setting the sixth fastest time.

Meanwhile, Pieter Coetze, also advanced to this evening’s semifinals in the men’s 200 metres backstroke.

The 20-year-old from Pretoria won his heat in 1 min, 56.92 second, the third fastest overall.