Pieter Coetze Breaks World Record As South Africa Celebrates Historic Swimming Night
- Pieter Coetze has achieved a major career milestone in Uzbekistan, but his latest performance carries significance beyond the South African swimmer himself
- The record-breaking race featured some of the biggest names in international swimming, setting the stage for a dramatic result
- Another South African swimmer also had reason to celebrate in Tashkent, overcoming a difficult build-up to his race
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South Africa’s Pieter Coetze broke the men’s 50m backstroke short-course world record on Friday, 9 October 2026, clocking 22.09 seconds at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 22-year-old lowered the previous record of 22.11 seconds, set by Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in 2022. Coetze also improved his own best time of 22.51 seconds, recorded the previous week in Baku.
“Seeing that time on the board, it didn’t even click that it was a world record,” Coetze said, according to World Aquatics.
He added:
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“And then, like, a second later, I was like… ‘the world record was 22.1.’ So… not many words to describe that. It’s crazy.”
The record clarification matters: Coetze’s achievement was in the short-course 50m backstroke, swum in a 25-metre pool. It is not the long-course world record, which is contested in a 50-metre pool.
Coetze beats Russian rivals to claim historic victory
Coetze faced a strong field featuring Kolesnikov and fellow Russians Egor Kornev and Pavel Samusenko.
Kornev finished second in 22.29 seconds, while Samusenko took third in 22.35 seconds. Kolesnikov, who entered the race as the world-record holder, finished sixth in 22.88 seconds.
The result also broke the Swimming World Cup record. Coetze set an African short-course record of 22.51 seconds in Baku a week earlier, then went even faster in Tashkent.
His achievement carries wider significance for African swimming. NBC Sports reported that he became the first male swimmer representing an African nation to break a swimming world record since fellow South African Chad le Clos set a short-course 100m butterfly record in 2016.
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Michael Houlie gives South Africa another win
Coetze’s performance was followed by another South African victory when Michael Houlie won the men’s 50m breaststroke final in 25.67 seconds.
Houlie achieved the result while dealing with lower back pain and food poisoning.
“I think, in spite of all of that, I’ve been able to overcome it and swim the way I swam today,” Houlie said.
“That takes courage, and I’m just … I’m grateful. Grateful to be here,” he added.
Coetze earned US$10,000 in record-setting prize money, on top of the amount awarded for winning the race. The South African now holds a world record as he continues his campaign on the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup circuit.
The Tashkent stop runs from 8 to 10 October 2026, with the event providing another opportunity for Coetze to test himself against leading international swimmers.
Pieter Coetze’s record-breaking Commonwealth Games campaign
Briefly News previously reported that Pieter Coetze rewrote the Commonwealth Games record books during his remarkable campaign in Glasgow in July 2026.
The South African swimmer set four Games records in three days, including a 200m backstroke victory in 1:54.22. With multiple gold medals secured, attention turned to whether he could add another triumph to his growing list of achievements.
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Source: Briefly News
