World Champs Profile: Pieter Coetze Looking to Continue Climb of Backstroke Ladder
Leading into the start of the World Championships this weekend, Swimming World will publish a handful of short profiles on top contenders for the podium in Singapore. Our next entry in this series features South African Pieter Coetze, who has etched himself as a world-class performer across all three backstroke events.
Pieter Coetze
South Africa
Events: 50 Backstroke/100 Backstroke/200 Backstroke
The Road to Singapore
The 2024 Olympic Games showcased Coetze’s talent level. Although the South African finished shy of the podium, he packaged impressive performances in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. After setting an African record of 52.58 en route to fifth place in the 100 back, he placed seventh in the 200 back behind an African standard of 1:55.60.
Coetze will arrive in Singapore with the momentum of consistent performances in April at the South African Championships, followed by a 51.99 clocking in the 100 backstroke at the World University Games. He currently sits first in the world in the 100 backstroke and is 10th in the world in the 50 back (24.49) and 11th in the 200 back (1:56.07). It wouldn’t be surprising to see the 21-year-old lower his personal bests and push for a medal in at least one of the backstrokes.
Top Career Achievement
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Coetze captured the gold medal in the 100 backstroke, accounting for the only title by a South African male. Later that year, he also captured the gold medal in the 200 backstroke at the World Junior Championships.
Previous World Champs Hardware
Coetze has one medal from the World Championships, captured at last year’s edition in Doha. In the 200 backstroke, Coetze recorded a time of 1:55.99 to place behind Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez and Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov.
Stat Fact
Coetze is one of three South Africans to earn a medal in the backstroke at the World Championships. Gerhard Zandberg won four medals in the 50 backstroke, including gold in 2007, and Zane Waddell was the champion of the 50 backstroke in 2019.
World Champs Profiles
