Fresh from having bettered his 50m breaststroke world mark to 25.25 secs the previous evening, van der Burgh clocked 55.61 in the 100m breaststroke to dip under his world record of 55.99 set at the Telkom SA Short Course Championships held in Pietermaritzburg in August this year. South Africa's Neil Versfeld took the bronze medal in 57.06.
Townsend continued his impressive form in the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup short course series, by setting a world record time of 1:51.55 in the 200m individual medley, faster than the previous world best of 1:51.56 held by American Ryan Lochte. American swim sensation Michael Phelps had to settle for the silver medal (1:53.70) with Durban-based Chad le Clos ending third in 1:54.28.
Both Van der Burgh and Townsend will each receive US$ 10 000 from world aquatics body FINA for their world record achievements.
South Africa's other swimmers also excelled at the World Cup.
Roland Schoeman, the world record-holder in the 50m freestyle set at the Telkom SA Short Course Championships earlier this year, showed fine form in the short sprint, clocking a meet record time of 20.57.
Gerhard Zandberg’s win in the 50m backstroke in an African record time of 22.85 was another special moment for the SA swim camp, as he held off a strong challenge from American world record-holder Peter Marshall, who ended second in 22.86.
In the 200m freestyle final, Townsend ended third in an African record time of 1:40.89, while Mandy Loots (silver in the 200 metres butterfly) and Chanelle van Wyk (bronze in the 100 metres backstroke in 56.56) also posted African records.
Russian Arkady Vyatchanin bettered George du Rand’s world record in the 200 metres backstroke, finishing in 1:46.11. Du Rand, whose world best had stood at 1:47.08, finished second in 1:48.05.
Garth Tune finished seventh in the 100 metres butterfly in 50.62 while Kathryn Meaklim ended ninth in the 400 metres individual medley in 4:39.21.
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