Andrew Willis acquires Men’s 200m breaststroke gold: Day five – British Gas Swimming Championships
Andrew Willis of Bracknell acquired gold medal of the Men’s 200m breaststroke playoff on fifth day of the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre on Wednesday, March 7.
The British Gas meet acts as the selection trials for the 2012 London Olympic Games and offers a chance to all local swimmers to cement their place in the British team, which will compete at the battle royal.
The 21-year-old Willis faced tough competition from Michael Jamieson of Edinburgh University in the first three laps of the race but with his utter determination, he managed to transpire on the finishing end for gold medal.
Jamieson was the first swimmer to take off from the starting blocks. With his quickest response to the start, he completed his initial lap of the race in a time of 29.46 seconds. He was followed by Willis, who remained just 0.24 seconds slower and completed
the equivalent distance with an effort of 29.70 seconds.
The Edinburgh’s swimmer continued his supremacy in the second lap, where he extended his lead to almost half second as he posted 1 minute and 01.89 seconds. Subsequently, Willis remained 0.62 seconds slower from Jamieson and completed his first half in a
time of 1 minute and 02.51 seconds.
Willis elevated his efforts in the third lap, where he managed in skimming down the lead by a substantial difference. With his speedy efforts in the third lap, Jamieson sustained his top position and ended his 150 metres by clocking 1 minute and 35.18 seconds.
Willis remained just 0.40 seconds slower from his former finisher and enveloped the same distance with an effort of 1 minute and 35.58 seconds.
With his alluring efforts, Willis enhanced his pace in the final round and stunned the arena by out-touching his competitor over the finishing wall for gold medal with the timing of 2 minutes and 09.33 seconds. He was followed by Jamieson and his teammate,
Kristopher Gilchrist, who ended second and third with timings of 2:09.84 and 2:11.73 minutes respectively.
Furthermore, the championship will complete on March 10 after the completion of all scheduled events.
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