Cameron van der Burgh anticipates fastest-ever Olympics

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  • Van der Burgh won eight consecutive 50m & 100m breaststroke golds.

    Breaststroke sensation Cameron van der Burgh believes competing and winning the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup series has helped boost his confidence as he looks ahead to what he says will be “the fastest Olympics ever”.

    Van der Burgh pulled off a clean sweep by winning the 50m and 100m breaststroke events in all eight stops of the World Cup series to claim his third overall title and first since 2009.

    The South African former world record holder wrapped up his season with gold in the 100m on Saturday night at the Hamdan Sports Complex, clocking 59.05 seconds to beat his rival Adam Peaty, who is the current world champion and world record holder.

    Van der Burgh and Peaty will provide one of the most exciting match-ups in the pool at the Rio Olympics next year and the pair are looking forward to pushing each other to their limits.

    At Worlds in Kazan this year, Van der Burgh broke the 50m world record in the heats before Peaty re-broke it six hours later.

    More of the same should be expected in Rio.

    “It’s fun. It’s awesome. I think it’s a great competitive nature that’s brought up between the two of us,” Van der Burgh told Sport360.

    “It’s definitely one of the most anticipated races for the Olympics next year, it’s going to be so close, a real dogfight until the end. So whoever is going to win they’re going to have to give some really special performance.

    “Also of course you can’t exclude the other guys, Ross Murdoch and others… I think whoever is going to win, it will be a new world record and it’s going to be really fast. It’s going to be the fastest Olympics ever.”

    The 27-year-old admits losing to Peaty in Kazan was tough to swallow and was happy to get the better of the Brit in the World Cup series in Doha and Dubai.

    “It’s boosted my confidence a lot. Psychologically, I was very happy with my swims at Worlds but missing out to Adam by such a small margin it is a little bit bittersweet. So to be able to race him here, and get him by such small margins has definitely helped my confidence a lot,” said Van der Burgh.

    Dubai’s Velimir Stjepanovic had an impressive 200m freestyle Saturday night which saw an incredibly close finish but once again he had to settle for silver behind British world champion James Guy, who edged the Serb by a mere 0.03 seconds.

    Chad Le Clos won the 100m butterfly in 51.09 and claimed silver in the 50 freestyle to beat Mitch Larkin to second place in the overall series standings by just six points.

    “I’m in the best mental state I’ve been in a long time and I think next year is going to be great,” said Le Clos. 

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