Francesca Halsall and Kanako Watanabe dominate in Berlin: 2011 FINA World Cup
Commonwealth medallist, Francesca Halsall of Great Britain and Kanako Watanabe of Japan gave their thrilling performances in the final session on day two of the 2011 FINA World Cup series in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, October 23. They clinched Women’s 100m
Individual Medley and 200m breast-stroke title, respectively.
Francesca Halsall beat world champion, Missy Franklin of United States by hitting the finishing wall in a fastest time of 58.73 seconds to win the 100m IM title. Franklin and Theresa Michalak of Colombia shared the silver medal by posting a matching time
of 59.44 seconds.
Meanwhile, Sophie Allen of Great Britain thrashed out Maria Seppala Hanna of Finland in the respective race by powering the finishing wall in a winning time of 59.67 seconds to earn fourth place honours. The fifth place went to Hanna in a spot of 59.75 seconds.
In addition, Erica Morningstar of Canada picked sixth position by submitting a time of 1 minute and 00.77 seconds.
Great Britain’s Sophie Smith gave a respectable performance in the heat and notched seventh position by hitting the finishing wall in a spot of 1 minute and 01.13 seconds. In the meantime, Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania claimed eighth position by posting a
time of 1 minute and 02.47 seconds.
Additionally, the Women’s 200m breast-stroke title was clinched by young gun of China, Kanako Watanabe in a time of 2 minutes and 20.03 seconds. For second position, Australia’ Sally Foster beat Denmark’s Moller Pedersen Rikke with a time of 2 minutes and
20.58 seconds. The bronze title went to Rikke in a time of 2 minutes and 20.91 seconds.
Korea’s Yeon Back Su posted a matchless mark of 2 minutes and 21.41 seconds to claim fourth place honours in the respective race, while Andrea Kropp of United States finished at fifth spot in a blot of 2 minutes and 21.53 seconds, respectively. The sixth
place went to Anastasia Chaun of Russia in an impressive time of 2 minutes and 22.33 seconds, whereas, Korea’s Jin Kim Hye finished seventh by submitting a time of 2 minutes and 23.44 seconds.
The eighth position went to Lisa Fissneider of Italy in a mark of 2 minutes and 23.57 seconds. In the end, the victorious Francesca Halsall and Kanako Watanabe were awarded gold medals along with cash prizes after the session’s completion.
The 2011 FINA World Cup is an important series for all young guns and senior level swimmers of Sweden, Australia, Ukraine, United States, Great Britain and Canada, as it will allow them to prepare themselves hard for their advanced meets of competitive swimming.
The fifth round of the seven stop FINA World Cup series is scheduled to take place in Singapore, from November 4-5.
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