Australian swimmers shine at the 2012 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships – Part 13
After the gruelling forms of Cate Campbell and Christian Sprenger in the Women’s 50m freestyle and Men’s 50m breaststroke, respectively, the crowd’s focus was shifted to the Women’s 50m butterfly final.
The continued efforts of all national swimmers in their respective events boosted the confidence of their audience in the Australian team to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Nevertheless, the 25-year-old Tait, who qualified into the playoff as third fastest swimmer, went full rampant in the final round to devastate her challengers in the shortest butterfly event.
Tait faced strong competition from her competitor, Jessicah Schipper, who made her way into the playoff as top fastest swimmer, but with her alluring efforts, Tait managed to outperform her and reached the victory stand for gold medal.
With her quickest response to the start, Tait gained a marginal lead over her strongest rival in the start and printed her way towards the finishing end for the crown of the event. Her splendid effort remained almost one stroke ahead of her rival and she
tapped the wall with the timing of 26.59 seconds for gold medal.
Her time remained 1.52 seconds slower from the world record of Therese Alshammar of Sweden, who clocked a time of 25.07 seconds in July 2009. Furthermore, she also remained 1.11 seconds behind the Australian and Commonwealth Games mark of 25.48 seconds,
set by Marieke Guehrer in 2009.
The gold medallist was followed by 25-year-old Schipper, who stayed 0.06 seconds slower from her and reached the medal rostrum for silver medal by clocking an effort of 26.65 seconds.
The third spot of the race was secured by Brianna Throssell, who was only 0.11 seconds behind her former finisher and settled on the victory stand for bronze medal by clocking a time of 26.76 seconds.
The 16-year-old Throssell was followed by Lucia Lassman, who stayed almost half a second behind and posted a time of 27.28 seconds for fourth position.
In the meantime, the audience witnessed ruthless aggression of Benjamin Treffers in the Men’s 50m backstroke semi-final, which was the last event of seventh day.
The 20-year-old Treffers, who qualified into the semi-final as fastest swimmer, met expectations of his fans by maintaining his position in the semi-final. He faced no difficulty in snaring top qualification spot of the discipline as he remained prominently
away from his competitors and posted a time of 25.13 seconds.
His wonderful effort remained 1.09 seconds away from Liam Tancock of Great Britain, who posted 24.04 seconds at the 2009 Rome World Championships. He was also 0.32 seconds apart from the Australian mark of 24.81 seconds, set by Ashley Delaney of Nunawading
in 2009.
He was followed by Daniel Arnamnart, who remained 0.36 seconds behind and clocked an effort of 25.49 seconds to qualify for the final.
The third position of the discipline was obtained by Andrew Gillespie, who was almost half a second slower from his foregoing finisher and hit the wall with the timing of 25.97 seconds. The 19-year-old Gillespie remained 0.06 seconds ahead of Max Ackermann,
who earned fourth finest qualification spot of the event by clocking a time of 26.03 seconds.
The arena appreciated gruelling performances of all participants on the second last day of the tournament while the podium finishers collected medals for their noteworthy efforts after the session.
To be continued in Part 14.
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