James Magnussen clinches Men’s 100m freestyle gold: Day five – 2011 FINA World Championships
Australian national champion, James Magnussen, clinched his first world title by dominating the final rounds of Men’s 100m freestyle meet on day five of the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) 2011 World Championships on Thursday, July 28, in Shanghai,
China.
Magnussen, who dominated the semi-finals to qualify as the fastest swimmer into the finals, presented a beautiful swim and captured the title in a time of 47.63 seconds. His time was 0.72 seconds behind the world record of 46.91 seconds, set by Cesar Cielo
Filho of Brazil at the 2009 Rome World Championships. With his golden effort, the Australian also overpowered the effort of record holder, Cielo, in the two-lap sprint.
The gold medallist was followed by Brent Hayden of Canada, who stayed only 0.32 seconds behind Magnussen and reached the podium for silver medal, by reporting in a time of 47.95 seconds. Hayden was just 0.05 seconds away from his following swimmer, William
Meynard of France, who settled on the podium for the silver medal, by posting a time of 48.00 seconds.
The fourth fastest spot was secured by Cielo Filho, who stayed 0.01 seconds away from the bronze medallist and failed to defend his world title, by concluding his swim in a fourth fastest time of 48.01 seconds. Meynard’s team-member, Fabien Gilot, emerged
as the fifth fastest swimmer to complete the race, as he stayed just 0.12 seconds behind Cielo and submitted a finishing time of 48.13 seconds.
Nathan Adrian of USA was the sixth best swimmer to conclude his race, as he posted a time of 48.23 seconds. Adrian was just 0.01 seconds faster than his following swimmer, Luca Dotto of Italy, who posted a time of 48.24 seconds. Sebastiaan Verschuren of
Netherlands secured the final spot of the swim, as he clocked an eighth fastest time of 48.27 seconds.
Magnussen was extremely delighted with his first world title winning effort and claimed that he will work hard to continue his superb run of form to perform well at the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
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