Ryk Neethling of South Africa celebrates at the FINA World Cup at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre in 2005.
South Africa’s Olympic 4x100m Freestyle champions are continuing to build a strong focus ahead of the anticipated showdown at Melbourne 2006.
Speedster Ryk Neethling is dominating the pool at the World Cup short course meeting in Stockholm, claiming his third victory in the two-day event when he picked up the win in the 200m freestyle in 1min 45.00 seconds.
Earlier Mr Neethling won the 100m Freestyle and the 100m Individual Medley before a near-sellout crowd at the Eriksdalsbadet pool.
‘‘I use this as preparation for the Commonwealth Games and the world short-course championships, so I came in pretty tired and just wanted to race as best as I can,’’ Mr Neethling said. ‘‘I’m pretty happy with my results.’’
In Melbourne Mr Neethling is likely to be a strong challenger against fellow countryman Roland Schoemann and Australia’s Ian Thorpe in the tough 100m Freestyle.
And he’ll also likely play a key role in the South African team which took out the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 4x100m Freestyle as it faces a stiff challenge in Melbourne.
Three of the four member Canadian team, currently ranked second in the world, are heading to Melbourne after a narrow loss to the USA at last year’s World Championships.
And number three ranked Australia will also be looking for the home-pool advantage to kick them onto the gold medal podium.
The 4x100m Freestyle relay showdown is expected to form an exciting part of the opening day of the Swimming competition at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre on 16 March.
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