Helge Meeuw wins gold in Men’s 100m back-stroke – 2011 German World Championships Selection Trial
Helge Meeuw of SC Magdeburg dominated the Men’s 100m back-stroke final on day six of the 2011 German World Championships Selection Trial.
Meeuw won the gold medal in the 100m event and confirmed his spot in the German swimming team, that will participate at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
Helge won the gold medal by demonstrating a stupendous effort of 53.47 seconds. He was followed by Marco Di Carli of SG Frankfurt and his team member, Jan-Philip Glania, who occupied the podium for the silver and bronze medals, with timings of 54.43 and
55.10 seconds, respectively.
The national champion was almost 1.5 seconds slower than the world mark of 51.94 seconds, owned by the retired Aaron Peirsol at the 2009 Indianapolis Championships. His timing was 1.36 seconds above the European mark of 52.11 seconds, made by France’s Camille
Lacourt at the 2010 European Championships in Budapest. Furthermore, the swimmer remained 1.20 seconds away from his national record of 52.27 seconds, made at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
The German champion completed his first lap of the 100m swim, clocking a time of 26.10 seconds. He was 0.18 seconds faster than Di Carli and 0.25 seconds ahead from Glania, who completed their initial laps in 26.18 and 26.32 seconds, respectively.
In the next lap, Meeuw cruised his way towards the finishing wall to earn the gold medal in a total time of 53.47 seconds. Similarly, Marco and Jan-Philip sustained their second and third fastest spots.
Stefan Herbst of SSG Leipzig ended his swim in the fourth place, posting a time of 55.50 seconds. He was followed by Christian Diener and Felix Wolf, who emerged as the fifth and sixth fastest sprinters, submitting a time of 55.53 and 55.70 seconds, respectively.
Moments later, Lucien Habdenteufel and Max Claussen ended their swims, as the seventh and eight fastest swimmers, producing a time of 55.94 and 56.42 seconds, respectively.
Helge was extremely delighted with his comfortable victory and said that he will try to improve his timings at the upcoming world event.
Tags: