Jack Conger conquers Men’s 200m backstroke prelims – Junior Pan Pacific Championships
Jack Conger of USA conquered top qualification spot of the Men’s 200m backstroke on day three of the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday, August 25.
Conger experienced strong resistance from Corey Main of New Zealand in the four-lap backstroke discipline but with his unrelenting efforts, he managed the edge him out over the finishing wall for fastest qualification spot.
He dictated terms to his competitors throughout the event and qualified into the playoff as top fastest swimmer by touching the wall with an effort of 2 minutes and 01.98 seconds.
His gruelling pace was chased by Main, who stayed only 0.14 seconds slower and posted a time of 2 minutes and 02.12 seconds for second position.
Main was trailed by Keita Sunama of Japan, who suffered a loss of only 0.06 seconds from his former finisher and proved his eligibility for third finest qualifying position by clocking a time of 2 minutes and 02.18 seconds.
Sunama was followed by Alex Katz of USA, who stayed 0.22 seconds slower from him and secured fourth fastest qualification spot of the event by producing a time of 2 minutes and 02.40 seconds.
Subsequently, Katz was trailed by Jordan Harrison of Australia and Takeshi Kawamoto of Japan, who engaged each other in a stroke-to-stroke battle for fifth spot of the event.
Both swimmers struggled hard to surpass each other over the wall but failed to do so. They stayed 0.34 seconds away from Katz and ended fifth in the race by posting an identical time of 2 minutes and 02.74 seconds.
The pair was followed by Jared Gilliland of Australia, who remained one and a half body length behind and qualified into the playoff as seventh fastest swimmer by posting a time of 2 minutes and 04.17 seconds.
Eighth fastest spot of the event was obtained by Dimitar Ivanov of Canada, who stayed 2.07 seconds behind and hit the wall as eighth best finisher with an effort of 2 minutes and 06.24 seconds.
Conger was overjoyed with his effort and claimed that he would try harder to achieve the same in final round.
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