Francesca Halsall wins Women’s 100m freestyle semi-final – British Gas Swimming Championships
Francesca Halsall of Loughborough University won the Women’s 100m freestyle semi-final on fifth day of the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre on Wednesday, March 7.
The British meet provides an opportunity to national stars to race each other in their respective event and prove their qualification into the Great Britain’s team to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Halsall crushed hopes of her competitors in the double lap freestyle discipline. With her notable efforts, she occupied the top qualification spot into the playoff by posting a time of 53.83 seconds. The 21-year-old Halsall remained in a lead of 0.44 seconds
over her strongest competitor and her team-member, Amy Smith, who earned second best qualification spot of the event by clocking 54.27 seconds.
The third position of the event was obtained by Rebecca Turner of Co Sheffield, who was almost half a second behind her former finisher and seized third finest qualification spot of the race by posting a time of 54.71 seconds. Turner remained in a lead of
0.24 seconds over Jessica Lloyd of Co Manchester Aquatics, who finished fourth in the swim by producing 54.95 seconds.
In the meantime, the crowd witnessed ruthless struggles of Bath University’s Calum Jarvis, who dominated the Men’s 200m backstroke semi-final by submitting a time of 1 minute and 59.88 seconds.
Jarvis was trailed by Chris Walker-Hebborn of Ellesmere Co, who remained just 0.38 seconds slower from hiss preceding swimmer and earned second best spot of the event by posting 2 minutes and 00.26 seconds.
With his scintillating form, he was just a touch away from his closest competitors, Craig McNally of Warrender Ba and Marco Loughran of Guildford Ct, who ended in a draw for third position. McNally and Loughran entered the final round as strong contenders
for bronze medal third as they reported 2 minutes and 00.33 seconds.
The session ended after the completion of all listed events whereas the arena went wild with the impressive performances of all participants in their respective semi-finals. In addition, the championship will continued for three more days and will conclude
on March 10.
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