Australian swimmers shine at the 2012 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships – Part 12
With the continued performance of Australian swimmers on the seventh day of the 2012 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships, the expectations of the audience continued to elevate.
After the alarming swims of Belinda Hocking and Kylie Palmer in the Women’s 200m backstroke and 800m freestyle respectively, the focus was now shifted towards the Women’s 50m freestyle semi-final and Men’s 50m breaststroke final.
The semi-final of 50m freestyle discipline was overpowered by Cate Campbell, who crushed hopes of her challengers by continuing her dominance in the single lap event. The 19-year-old Campbell entered the final round as second best swimmer of the discipline
but with her impressive performance, she dominated the second round and made her way to the playoff as to contender for gold medal.
Campbell stunned the arena with her smothering efforts in the semi-final, where she posted a time of 24.55 seconds to enter the final round.
Campbell remained almost 0.80 seconds slower from the world record of 23.73 seconds, made by Britta Steffen of Germany in 2009. She also remained 0.58 seconds behind the Australian and Commonwealth mark of 23.97 seconds, set by Libby Trickett in March 2009.
Her effort was comfortably under the Federation International de Natation Amateur’s (FINA) A-Time Qualification Standard of 25.27 seconds.
She faced tough competition from her sister, Bronte Campbell, who stayed just two strokes behind her and qualified into the final round as second best swimmer. The 17-year-old Campbell clocked an effort of 24.78 seconds to enter the playoff. Her effort was
followed by the Australian record holder, Trickett, who ended third in the discipline.
The crowd was astonished with the sluggish effort of Trickett, who could not meet the expectations of her supporters and reached the final round as third best swimmer with the timing of 24.86 seconds.
Trickett qualified into the semi-final as top fastest swimmer, but she failed to withstand Campbell’s phenomenal effort in the second round. She was followed by Yolane Kukla, who occupied fourth best qualification spot of the event by submitting an effort
of 24.96 seconds.
Subsequently, the audience witnessed ruthless aggression of Christian Sprenger in the Men’s 50m breaststroke. The 26-year-old Sprenger, who qualified into the playoff as top fastest swimmer, devastated hopes of the defending champion, Brenton Rickard.
Sprenger remained comfortably ahead of his strongest challenger and snared the national crown of the event with the timing of 27.43 seconds. His time remained nearly 0.80 seconds slower from the world record of 26.67 seconds, held by Cameron van der Burgh
of South Africa in 2009.
Furthermore, the remained 0.48 seconds slower from the Australian record of 26.95 seconds, set by Rickard at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
His immaculate effort was highly recognised by the audience, as his time was prominently under the FINA A-Time Standard of 27.30 seconds and will now represent Australia at the forthcoming 2012 London Olympic Games.
The champion was followed by Rickard, who stepped on the victory stand for silver medal by completing his swim in a time of 27.97 seconds. His scintillating struggle remained slightly ahead of Joshua Palmer, who failed to make his way in the Australian team
to Olympics by posting a time of 28.39 seconds. Similarly, Max Ireland, who clocked an effort of 28.49 seconds, obtained fourth spot of the swim.
To be continued in Part 13.
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