Fran Halsall dominates 50m freestyle heats of 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships:
Day seven
The 100m freestyle champion of the event, Fran Halsall, conquered the Women’s 50m freestyle heat in the morning session of the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships, held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Halsall, through her victory in the 100m freestyle, has already confirmed her selection in Britain’s Swimming Team for the 2011 Shanghai World Championships. She came first in the preliminary rounds of the 50m freestyle in a time of 25.46 seconds ahead of
her Loughborough University’s team-member, Amy Smith, who touched the wall in 25.90 seconds. They were followed by Plymouth’s Emma Wilkins in 26.12 seconds.
The next event was the Women’s 50m breast-stroke, in which 18 swimmers participated. This event was also dominated by Loughborough’s Lowri Tynan in a time of 32.46 seconds followed by Edinburgh’s Kathryn Johnstone and Co Leeds’s Avril Kiritschenko in 32.59
and 32.78 seconds, respectively.
Lowri was the bronze medallist in the same event last year, but the absence of the first two finishers Achieng Ajulu-Bushe and Stephanie Slater cleared her way for the gold medal.
The 100m back-stroke champion, Liam Tancock, put up a scintillating performance in the 50m back-stroke category. In the Men’s 50m back-stroke, Loughborough’s Luke Wood touched home first in 26.48 seconds ahead of his club member, Tancock, who touched the
wall in 26.61 seconds. The third fastest swimmer was Scott Hathaway of Loughborough, who recorded a time of 26.62.
The championship’s most distant event, the Men’s 1500m freestyle, was dominated by Cardiff’s David Davies in an impressive time of 15:19.30 minutes, an effort way ahead of his following swimmers. Loughborough’s Daniel Fogg registered the second fastest swim
with his timing of 15:29.41 minutes, followed by last year’s silver medallist, Tom Allen, in the third place in a time of 15:30.50 minutes.
The session’s second last event was the Women’s MD 100m breast-stroke, which was won by Nova’s Charlotte Henshaw in a time of 1:40.34 minutes. She scored a total of 862 points in contrast to Natalie Massey’s 846 points and Co Leeds’s Claire Cashmore’s 822
points.
The last swim of the morning, the Men’s MD 100m breast-stroke, was controlled by Gareth Duke as he scored 753 points for the top qualification. He was followed by Stockport’s Daniel Pepper and Thomas Young, who scored 752 and 708 points, respectively.
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