Alena Zakurina dominates Women’s 800m freestyle heats: Day One – 2011 Swimming World Cup, Moscow
Alena Zakurina of Russia served notice of her talent by overpowering the efforts of her competitors in the preliminary rounds of Women’s 800m freestyle on the initial day of 2011 Swimming World Cup in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, October 18.
Moscow is the third leg of seven-stop World Cup series organised by international aquatics sport managing body, Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA).
Zakurina thrashed out hopes of her competitors in the thirty-two lap freestyle event as she earned her way to the finest qualification spot in the final of 800m event.
The Russian faced an immense battle from her team-member, Anna Sineva, who tried to put aside her team-mate’s frenzy efforts and swam towards the finishing end in a ruthless manner.
Sineva was the quickest swimmer to jump off the starting blocks and she completed her initial round in a time of 30.78 seconds, staying 0.06 seconds ahead of Zakurina’s 30.84 seconds effort. The battle continued for just one more round, where Sineva dictated terms to her team-member but fall short against Zakurina’s outstanding swim in the third round.
Zakurina earned a lead of almost one second over her compatriot by covering first 150 metres of the race in 1 minute and 37.54 seconds against Sineva’s 1 minute and 38.66 seconds. After securing a prominent lead over her closest competitor, the 18-year-old Zakurina went rampant and extended her lead to almost three seconds in the next round.
With her persistent efforts, she earned a lead of 5.30 seconds from Sineva, posting a time of 9 minutes and 09.19 seconds for the top qualification spot in the final. Subsequently, Sineva hit the wall with a second fastest effort of 9 minutes and 14.49 seconds. She was trailed by Nur Marina Chan of Singapore, who remained nearly seven seconds slower than her former finisher and clocked a time of 9 minutes and 21.38 seconds for third best spot.
The arena was delighted with the smothering efforts of all participants, who tried to escape each other for the finest qualification spot.
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