the sixth day of the swimming competition, 29 July, he tied for 18th place in the preliminary heats of the 100-metre butterfly with a time of 51.89 seconds and did not advance to the next stage of the competition. Three days earlier, on the third day, he swam a 1:55.96 in the preliminary heats of the 200-metre butterfly, qualifying for the semifinals ranking 16th. In the semifinals the following day, day four, he qualified for the final ranking third with a time of 1:55.06. In the final of the 200-metre butterfly on day five, he placed fifth with a time of 1:54.93, finishing over three seconds behind the gold medalist in the event, Kristóf Milák of Hungary. 2021 Short Course World Championships For the 2021 World Short Course Championships, held at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in December, Le Clos entered to compete in the individual events 100 metre freestyle, 200 metre freestyle, 50 metre butterfly, 100 metre butterfly, and 200 metre butterfly. When travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented two of his teammates, Matthew Sates and Tatjana Schoenmaker, from attending and competing at the Championships, Le Clos was not impacted in the same way as he had already left South Africa for the 2021 International Swimming League. On 16 December, day one of the championships, Le Clos ranked second in the prelims heats of the 200 metre butterfly with a 1:50.63, qualifying for the final later the same day. In the final of the event later the same day, Le Clos won the bronze medal with a time of 1:49.84, finishing less than eight-tenths of a second after gold medalist Alberto Razzetti of Italy and silver medalist Noè Ponti of Switzerland. For the 200 metre freestyle on day two, Le Clos decided not to swim the event. In the same prelims session, Le Clos qualified for the semifinals of the 100 metre butterfly with a 50.47 and ranked 11th overall. For the semifinals of the event, Le Clos qualified for the final ranked second, ahead of Youssef Ramadan of Egypt and behind Matteo Rivolta of Italy, with a 49.56. In the final of the 100 metre butterfly, Le Clos finished second to win the silver medal with a time of 49.04 seconds, less than two-tenths of a second behind gold medalist Matteo Rivolta and less than two-tenths of a second ahead of bronze medalist