On the 5th day of action at South African nationals in Durban, Chad le Clos took his tally of London 2012 A cuts to four with a 1:58.87 lead time in the 200m medley over Darian Townsend, also inside target time on 1:59.98.

There was good news too for Pretoria’s Suzaan van Biljon, on 2:25.89 and inside Olympic target, in the semis of the 200m breaststroke, while Gideon Louw, Roland Schoeman and Townsend battled for the top three places in the 4x100m freestyle, Louw on 49.23, Schoeman 49.25 and Townsend 49.30.

Those three are the strongest claims to relay places, with Louw and Townsend on 48.74 (a solo A cut) and 49.10 respectively in semis,  and Graeme Moore, Leith Shankland and Le Clos all having clocked times between 49.53 and 49.65 this year.

In the 200m breaststroke, Neil Versfeld clocked 2:12.73 for victory but fell shy of the London 2012 cut by 1.01sec. 33-year-old Mandy Loots was also a winner with no Olympic ticket, on 2:12.49 in the 200m butterfly, the cut for which was 2:08.95.

South Africans Inside A Cut for London 2012 after day 5 (SF - semi):

• Chad le Clos - 400m individual medley 4:13.86; 200 freestyle (SF) 1:47.20; 200m butterfly 1:56.17; 200m medley (SF) - 1:58.87
• Suzaan van Biljon - 200m breaststroke  2:25.89
• Cameron van der Burgh - 100m breaststroke  59.90
• Riaan Schoeman - 400m individual medley  4:15.60
• Heerden Herman - 400m freestyle 3:48.57
• Kathryn Meaklim  400m medley  4:37.70
• Kathryn Meaklim - 200m  medley (SF)  2:13.33
• Charl Crous - 100m backstroke  54.17
• Gideon Louw - 100m freestyle (SF) 48.74
• Darian Townsend - 200m medley (SF)  1:59.98