David McKeon wins Men’s 400m freestyle: Day one – 2011 Swimming World Cup, Singapore
David McKeon of Australia astonished the crowd by winning gold medal of Men’s 400m freestyle on the first day of the 2011 Swimming World Cup Series in Singapore on Friday, November 4.
The Singapore World Cup is a two-day event and fifth stage of the seven-stop series, planned by the international aquatics sport governing body, Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA).
McKeon dominated the preliminary rounds of 400m freestyle to earn the top qualification spot in the final rounds. With his astounding efforts in the freestyle playoff, he sustained his finest qualification spot and shattered hopes of his competitors by winning gold medal of the event.
The 19-year-old earned a prominent lead over his competitors in the first round, where he posted a magnificent time of 53.93 seconds. He was followed by Kai Wai David Wong of Hong Kong, who covered the same distance in 54.99 seconds and remained marginally away from Yu-Chen Tseng of Taiwan, who posted a time of 54.99 seconds.
McKeon continued his thrilling performance in the second round, where he extended his lead to almost three seconds by submitting an effort of 1 minute and 50.60 seconds. Similarly, Wong managed to earn a lead of 0.61 seconds from Tseng, as he completed his first half of the race in 1:52.73 minutes.
In the third round, McKeon continued his dominance and enhanced his lead to almost four seconds from Tseng, reporting a time of 2 minutes and 46.92 seconds on the boards. Subsequently, Tseng reported a time of 2 minutes and 50.46 seconds to overwhelm Wong’s 2 minutes and 51.39 seconds effort.
The arena witnessed true strength of Australian swimmer in the final 100 metres of the race, where he cruised his way towards the finishing end in a fabulous manner. McKeon produced a time of 3 minutes and 42.82 seconds for gold medal.
Meanwhile, Tseng reached the podium or silver medal as he remained almost five seconds slower than gold medallist, hitting the wall in 3 minutes and 47.41 seconds. he was traced by Wong, who stepped on the medal rostrum for bronze medal with an effort of 3 minutes and 47.70 seconds.
The crowd appreciated scintillating efforts of all position holders while the session ended after completion of all scheduled events.
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