Darian Townsend captures Men’s 200m freestyle gold medal – 2011 Southwest Classic Tucson
The 2004 Athens Olympic Games gold medallist, Darian Townsend, captured the title of the Men’s 200m freestyle category, on the final day of the 2011 Southwest Classic Tucson.
The championship is an international meet which provides competitive swimmers with a chance to get ready for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July.
Townsend of South Africa presented a beautiful swim in front of the arena, securing the gold finish on the podium with a time of 1 minute and 49.89 seconds. He was followed by New Zealand swimmer, Matthew Stanley, who followed Townsend on the podium for
the silver medal, by clocking a time of 1 minute and 51.29 seconds. Stanley defeated his closest competitor, Kurtt Basset, by only 0.41 seconds. Basset appeared on the finishing wall for the bronze medal, by producing a time of 1 minute and 52.70 seconds.
Townsend also won the gold medal in the 4*100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was a part of the South African relay teams of the 4*100m freestyle and 4*200m freestyle categories, which won bronze medals at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
The fourth position went to Ryan M Hinshaw of Santa Clara Swim Club-PC, who completed his swim in a time of 1 minute and 55.44 seconds. He was followed by Ridge Grimsey of Australia, who stayed almost one second behind Hinshaw, ending his swim in 1 minute
and 56.53 seconds
Hinshaw’s team-member, Sam E Shimomura, finished his swim in the sixth fastest place, clocking in a time of 1 minute and 57.33 seconds. Shaun Burnett of New Zealand and Adam J Ritter of Tucson followed Shimomura on the finishing wall as the seventh and eighth
position holders, with timings of 1:57.97 and 1:59.37 minutes, respectively.
Townsend was very happy with his title winning effort and asserted that he will work hard to exceed the expectations of his fans in the upcoming meets. In addition, the podium finishers received awards and accolades for their spectacular swims on the last
day of the event.
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