ZIMBABWE'S swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry was in dominant form during the first day of the two-day Swimming South Africa International Invitational meet in which she won three races in Durban on Saturday night. On Saturday night, Coventry swam in the women's 200m individual medley and the 50m and 200m backstroke events, coming out tops in all these three events in convincing fashion.

Coventry first took part in the 200IM and according to reports from Durban, the 28-year-old Zimbabwean proved her worldclass status with another encouraging performance in this event.

The double Olympian and "Golden Girl" of Zimbabwe raced to a fast 2:12.65 and also pulled South Africa's hope Kathryn Meaklim closer to her Olympic qualifying time with a 2:14.11.

Meaklim only has to drop a fraction more to 2:13.36 at the Olympic Trials in Durban in April.

Veteran Mandy Loots continued to excel soon after her 100m butterfly victory with a third in 2:19.29.

Coventry, who is preparing for the 2012 London Olympic Games in July, went on to win the 50m backstroke event before she finished off a busy evening with another solid performance in the women's 200m backstroke.

Now supported by Zimbabwe-born Charlene Wittstock, now the Princess of Monaco, in her build-up to her fourth Olympic Games, Coventry managed to swim away from Hungarian Zsuszanna Jakabos on the final 50 metres to clock 2:12.10 to her challenger's time of 2:12,70.

Jessica Ashley-Cooper took third in 2:16.80.

Coventry was expected to swim in two more events on the final day of the event last night.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Riaan Schoeman took a step closer to his Olympic Games dream on Saturday night when he swam a qualifying A-time in the evening session on day one of the two-day international invitational meet in Durban.

The 22-year-old came second in the 400IM in a time of 4:16.02, finishing behind teenage prodigy Chad le Clos (4:14.93).

Both finished inside the required 4:16.46 time, meaning they have fulfilled the first part of a stringent South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) policy that requires a swimmer to record an A-standard time twice during a 10-month period, including once at the national trials in April.

Le Clos had already hit qualifying times in two of his other races, the 100m and 200m butterfly, and was hoping to also qualify for the 200IM last night.

The only other A-time achieved on Saturday night came from Zimbabwean Coventry, the highest profile foreign swimmer in the field.

The double-Olympic gold medallist swam a 2:12.65 in the 200IM, although she had already met the requirements set out by her country.

Cameron van der Burgh, one of nine athletes to have already met the first part of the Sascoc criteria prior to the competition, finished a surprise second in his 50m breaststroke final.

The South Africa Swimmer of the Year for 2011 recorded a time of 28.75 and was pipped by Neil Versfeld, who swam 28.72.

Versfeld also finished ahead of Van der Burgh in the 200m breaststroke, with the two finishing first and fifth respectively in times of 2:16.25 and 2:19.29. Among the others that had already achieved the required times, Gideon Louw won the 100m freestyle in 49.37, Le Clos won the 200m butterfly in 2:59.00, Vanessa Mohr came second and fourth in the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

Meaklim, another who has done an A-time, narrowly missed out on the Olympic time in the 200m IM, where she finished second behind Coventry in a time of 2:14.11, less than a second off the London time.

The win for Coventry was one of three on the evening as she also won the 50m and 200m backstrokes.

Another Olympic hopeful to have missed out on qualifying times was Karin Prinsloo, who came second in two races, the 50m freestyle (26.23) and 200m freestyle (1:59.48).

Charl Crous won the 100m backstroke in 54.86 and Gerhard Zandberg (55.92) finished second, with both still narrowly outside the qualifying time of 54.40.