Alexander Dale Oen captures Men’s 100m breast-stroke title: Day two – Swimming World Cup, Stockholm
Alexander Dale Oen of Norway impressed the arena in Men’s 100m breast-stroke final on last day of the 2011 Swimming World Cup in Stockholm, on October Sunday, 16.
The competition is the second stage of seven-stop World Cup series, planned by the international aquatics sport governing body, Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA).
The Norwegian swimmer shattered hopes of his competitors in the 100m breast-stroke event by claiming the crown of the event. He faced tough battle from Glenn Snyders of New Zealand, who was on a verge of winning gold medal, but failed to answer Dale Oen’s sprint in the final-lap.
Snyders’s authoritative start and gruelling efforts provided him a competitive edge over his challengers. He remained dominant in the first half of the swim by completing his initial 50 metres of the race with a timing of 27.32 seconds.
Dale Oen was 0.27 seconds slower from him in the initial half as he clocked 27.59 seconds for the same distance, but elevated his swim in the final half, where he covered the same distance in 30.71 seconds to post 58.30 seconds for gold medal.
With his gold claiming effort, he remained nearly three seconds away from the world record of 55.61 seconds, made by Cameron Van Den Burgh of South Africa in 2009.
Subsequently, Snyders failed to answer the overpowering effort of Dale Oen and remained just a half-stroke away from him on the finishing end. He remained just 0.17 seconds slower than him and hit the wall with a timing of 58.47 seconds for silver medal.
He was chased by a Japanese swimmer, Naoya Tomita, who was nearly one second slower from the silver medallist, but proved his dominance for bronze medal by producing an effort of 59.23 seconds.
The session concluded after the completion of all scheduled events while the winners received medals for their astonishing swims after the session. Furthermore, these competitors will now meet each other in a head-to-head battle at the third stop of Swimming World Cup in Moscow on October 18.
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