Craig Gibbons wins Men’s 50m freestyle semi-final: Day six – British Gas Swimming Championships
Craig Gibbons of Maxwell won the semi-final of Men’s 50m freestyle on day six of the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre on Thursday, March 8.
The British Gas Championships is the Selection Trials for the 2012 London Olympic Games and offers a chance to their local swimmers to qualify for the mega event.
The 26-year-old Gibbons faced strong competition from Adam Brown of Hatfield in the single lap freestyle discipline but with his alluring efforts, he earned his way into the playoff as top contender for gold medal.
With his fascinating efforts, Gibbons ended his sprint in a time of 22.41 seconds for the fastest qualification spot. He remained just 0.01 seconds ahead of his strongest competitor, Brown, who ended his swim in a time of 22.42 seconds for second position.
Similarly, Brown remained nearly one stroke ahead of his closest challenger, Simon Burnett of Windsor.
Burnett remained just 0.26 seconds slower from his preceding swimmer and concluded his swim in third place with the timing of 22.68 seconds.
In the meantime, the crowd witnessed a remarkable struggle of Hillingdon’s Karley Mann, who crushed hopes of her rivals by ending first in the Women’s 200m backstroke. Mann remained nearly half a second away from her following swimmer and ended her swim
in 2 minutes and 10.30 seconds.
She was followed by Chester Le S’s Stephanie Proud, who was 0.57 seconds behind and posted 2 minutes and 10.87 seconds to enter the final round. Loughborough University’s Elizabeth Simmonds claimed third position of the event as she clocked a time of 2 minutes
and 11.08 seconds.
Following that, Antony James proved his eligibility for the top position in Men’s 100m butterfly semi-final as he submitted a time of 52.79 seconds. He was trailed by Braxston Timm of Co Sheffield, who ended second with the timing of 53.15 seconds. Timm
remained 0.08 seconds ahead of Michael Rock of Stockport Mo, who secured third position with the timing of 53.23 seconds.
In addition, the session concluded after the completion of all scheduled events while these finalists will face each other in the final rounds of their events.
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