Chad le Clos bombs out in 50m butterfly heats

Chad le Clos’ 2021 FINA World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi came to a premature end on Sunday.

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South Africa’s champion swimmer failed to progress out of the heats for the men’s 50m butterfly.

Swimming out of Lane 6 in the eighth heat, Le Clos could only finish fourth in a time of 23.02 which was well behind Dutch winner of the heat, Nyls Korstanje (22.40).

Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter recorded the fastest time of the 10 heats in 22.36.

When all was said and done, Le Clos’ time wound up 20th fastest, well outside of the top 16 swimmers who progressed to the semi-finals.

Chad le Clos’ compatriot Brad Tandy could only muster the joint 31st-quickest time (23.38) in the same 50m butterfly heats.

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Le Clos leaves the championships with South Africa’s only two medals: a silver in the 100m butterfly and a bronze in the 200m butterfly.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Michaela Pulford posted the 31st-fastest time in the heats for the women’s 400m freestyle (4:17.27) which was a full 16.01 seconds slower than heats winner, China’s Li Bingjie (4:01.26).

Only the eight quickest swimmers qualified for the final.