Hye Ra Choi seizes Women’s 200m IM gold: Day one – 2011 Swimming World Cup, Tokyo
Korean expert, Hye Ra Choi demonstrated her phenomenal efforts in the final of Women’s 200m Individual Medley (IM) on day one of the 2011 Swimming World Cup in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, November 12.
Tokyo is the concluding stop of 2011 World Cup series, organised by the international aquatics sport governing body, Federation Internationale de Federation (FINA).
The 20-year-old Korean qualified as the fastest swimmer into the final round. She faced strong competition from Tomoyo Fukuda and Emu Higuchi of Japan in the 200m IM playoff, but with her exhausting efforts in the eight-lap IM discipline, she managed to
earn her way to the top of podium.
With her commendable stroke and gruelling efforts, Fukuda emerged as the strongest swimmer of the IM discipline. She completed her first round of the swim in a fastest time of 27.79 seconds and remained only 0.04 seconds ahead of Choi, who covered the same
distance in 27.83 seconds.
The dominating efforts of Japanese swimmer ended in the next round, where Choi served notice of her talent and earned a prominent lead over her strongest competitor. She completed her second round of the race in a fastest time of 59.18 seconds to overwhelm
Fukuda’s 59.70 seconds effort.
The Korean cemented her place for the gold finish in third round, where she extended her lead to almost two seconds by posting a wonderful time of 1 minute and 36.76 seconds. She was followed by Fukuda, who ended her third round in a time of 1 minute and
38.47 seconds.
With her continued efforts, Choi sustained her position in the final round and covered her final 50 metres of the swim in a timing of 30.47 seconds to post 2 minutes and 07.23 seconds for gold medal.
She was trailed by Fukuda, who remained nearly two seconds slower from her and reached the podium for silver medal with an effort of 2 minutes and 09.00 seconds. The third spot of the race was secured by Higuchi, who gained bronze medal of the event with
a timing of 2 minutes and 09.87 seconds.
Furthermore, the crowd appreciated efforts of all participants while the winners received their accolades after the session.
Tags: