Darian Townsend captures Men’s 200m freestyle title – 2012 FINA Swimming World Cup, Moscow
Darian Townsend of South Africa captured gold medal of the Men’s 200m freestyle on second day of the 2012 FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup in Moscow, Russia on Thursday, October 18.
The South African swimmer lived up to the expectations of his supporters by dominating the playoff of the eight-lap discipline. Townsend remained marginally ahead of his strongest opponent in the 200m discipline and tapped the wall for gold medal.
His gruelling effort remained just a stroke ahead of his closest competitor as he tapped the wall for gold medal with a timing of 1 minute and 44.26 seconds.
Following that, the audience witnessed gruelling efforts of Paul Biedermann of Germany and Tommaso D’Orsogna of Australia, who engaged each other in a neck-to-neck swim for second spot.
Both swimmers demonstrated their impeccable efforts in the last 50 metres of the swim but failed to overpower each other and ended their race in an identical time for silver medal.
They stayed 0.23 seconds behind the champion and stepped on the victory stand for second position by producing an effort of 1 minute and 44.49 seconds.
The second position holders were trailed by Artem Lobuzov of Russia, who remained one and a half body length behind and emerged on the wall for fourth position by clocking a time of 1 minute and 45.79 seconds.
Fifth fastest spot of the race was obtained by Fernando Santos of Brazil, who stayed 0.51 seconds apart and settled on the wall with a timing of 1 minute and 46.30 seconds.
Santos was chased by Dmitry Ermakov of Russia, who was 0.10 seconds slower from his foregoing finisher and clocked an effort of 1 minute and 46.40 seconds for sixth place.
Ermakov was trailed by Mikhail Polishchuk of Russia, who stayed 1.37 seconds apart and ended his swim in seventh place with a timing of 1 minute and 47.77 seconds.
Eighth spot of the event was obtained by Igor Bespalov of Russia, who completed his race in a time of 1 minute and 49.26 seconds.
Furthermore, Townsend was happy with his form and raked medal after the session.
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