Elizabeth Simmonds earns Women’s 100 back-stroke gold: Day two – Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool
Elizabeth Simmonds of Great Britain demonstrated her phenomenal skills by earning gold medal of the Women’s 100m back-stroke on final day of the 2011 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool in Atlanta on Saturday, December 17.
Simmonds dictated terms to her competitors by claiming gold medal of the 100 meter time final event. She experienced strong competition from her American opponents, Natalie Coughlin and Missy Franklin.
She followed the lead of 29-year-old Coughlin in the initial lap. Coughlin gained marginal lead over her rivals in the first lap, where she touched the wall with a fastest timing of 27.27 seconds. She remained 0.20 seconds ahead of Simmonds, who covered
the equivalent distance by submitting a time of 27.47 seconds. Franklin, who just clinched the title of Women’s 200m freestyle, ended her initial half of the race with a third finest time of 28.39 seconds.
The battle continued in third round, where Simmonds geared up her swim to ensure her top finish on the medal rostrum. Coughlin tried hard to sustain her fastest spot in the final round but she failed to overwhelm the efforts of Simmonds in the final lap,
Simmonds showed her urgency towards the finishing wall, where she ended her last round with a timing of 29.35 seconds to post 56.82 seconds on the bulletin.
The gold medallist remained 1.59 seconds behind the world mark of 55.23 seconds, made by Shiho Sakai of Japan in 2009. She was also 0.85 seconds slower than the European mark of 55.97 seconds, set by Coughlin during 2011.
The champion was trailed by Coughlin, who stayed just 0.10 seconds behind on the finishing end and emerged on the podium for silver medal by reporting a time of 56.92 seconds. The second position holder was chased by Franklin, remained 0.58 seconds behind
and completed her race with a timing of 57.49 seconds for bronze medal.
Simmonds was overjoyed with her gold finish in the back-stroke discipline whereas she expressed her desire of accomplishing the same at upcoming international events. Furthermore, the championship ended after the conclusion of all scheduled events in Men’s
and Women’s category.
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