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Team South Africa is on fire, we’ll tell you that much! Both Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett have won their respective races in the women’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals and will be advancing to the final at the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to take place at 03:41 (SA time) on Friday.

Even though Schoenmaker dominated the show, Corbett on the other had a tough challenge to face in her race against favourites such as Lilly King of the United States and Great Britain’s Molly Renshaw, IOL reports.

The 22-year-old Corbett finished strong in her semi-final to win in a time of 2:22.08 with King coming in second (2:22.27). This was a new personal best after achieving the same milestone in her heat.

Schoenmaker, who is competing in her first Olympic Games, had set a new Olympic record in the heats on Wednesday, and then crushed the competition once more in her semi-final, coming first in 2:19.33.

This comes after she claimed the country’s first medal on Tuesday upon bagging silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke.

According to Sport24, both Schoenmaker and Corbett train at Tuks in Pretoria, and the dynamic duo (ladies on fire) caught the attention of none other than the great Penny Heyns, who lauded their performance.

Meanwhile, the other South African in the pool on Thursday morning was 18-year-old Matthew Sates, who finished 8th in his 200m individual medley semi-final, failing to qualify for the final. 

Also read:

Olympic record for Schoenmaker in the women’s 200m breaststroke

Picture: Team SA

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