George Du Rand earns gold medal on third day of 2011 Telkom South Africa National Championships
2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, George Du Rand earns the gold medal in the Men’s 200m back-stroke on the third day of the 2011 Telekom South Africa National Championships.
The championship is a trial basis for the national swimmers to prove their qualification in the South African swimming team to compete at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships this July.
Du Rand earned the gold medal for the 200m event in a superb time of 1:59.99 minutes. His time was only 0.27 seconds above the FINA A-time qualification standard but was comfortably under the FINA B-time criteria. Therefore, his spot for China will be confirmed
after the championship.
The 28-year-old Du Rand had an amazing start but was out-touched by KZNA-KZ’s Charl Crous in the last five metres of the first lap. Crous posted a 27.49 seconds effort against Du Rand’s 27.97 seconds. They both tangled in a neck-to-neck swim and were followed
by Du Rand’s team member, Darren Murray, who completed the first lap in 28.26 seconds.
George demonstrated his powerful swimming strokes in the second lap of the event that accompanied him with a modest lead over his competing swimmers. He prompted his way to the fastest spot in the second lap, clocking a time of 29.89 seconds to post 57.85
seconds for the first 100 metres of the swim. Murray geared up his swim and moved to the second spot after the first half of the race, clocking 30.19 seconds to post 58.45 seconds while Crous appeared third fastest, touching the wall in 30.79 seconds to post
58.28 seconds.
The battle continued in the third lap, where Du Rand displayed a fastest swim of 30.64 seconds to complete the lap and posted 1:28.49 minutes on the board. Murray sustained his position, presenting a 31.38 seconds effort as compared to Crous’s 31.59 seconds.
Du Rand posted a time of 1:29.83 seconds and was only 0.04 seconds faster than Crous.
Furthermore, Du Rand remained positive in the final lap for the gold spot and clocked a 1:59.99 minutes to earn the crown. He was followed by Murray and Crous, who touched the wall in a time of 2:01.11 and 2:01.43 minutes, completing their final lap in 31.28
and 31.56 seconds respectively.
CGA-CG’s Michael Meyer emerged as the fourth fastest swimmer, touching the wall in a time of 2:03.74 minutes and was followed by Chris Van de Sande and Zaahir Gamiet, who reported in 2:04.09 and 2:06.90 minutes. Rohan Jacobs and Chris King finished their
swims, clocking a time of 2:07.10 and 2:07.57 minutes for the seventh and eighth spot.
The championship will conclude on 16 April with the selection of national swimmers in the South African team to compete at the World Championships.
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