World record, World Cup title: how Pieter Coetzé got there
The South African backstroker won 10 medals and broke the 50m world record. His coach first met him at 16.
Pretoria — Pieter Coetzé, 22, has won his first World Aquatics Swimming World Cup title, topping the overall standings across the three-leg series that ended on 17 October with 10 medals.
On 9 October in Tashkent he swam the 50m backstroke in 22.09 seconds, a world record, beating the 22.11 set by Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov in 2022. He also took two Triple Crowns, winning the 100m and 200m backstroke at all three legs.
Coetzé said he would cherish the title forever, calling it the hardest he has had to work for an achievement because it meant staying consistent and focused for three weeks.
The coach's view
His coach, Rocco Meiring, had doubts about the World Cup, which fell between the Commonwealth Games and December's short-course World Championships. Coetzé insisted he needed more racing, and Meiring now admits that was the right call.
Meiring has coached him since he was 16, when Coetzé and his mother moved from Rustenburg to Pretoria for a faster training environment. He was a standout from the start, Meiring said. After missing the qualifying time three times, he made the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on his fourth attempt, the youngest South African swimmer at those Games.
Source: Daily Maverick, 26 October 2026.
