James Magnussen clinches Men’s 100m freestyle gold: Day four – McDonald's Qld Swimming Championships
World 100m freestyle champion, James Magnussen of Australia clinched gold medal of Men’s 100m freestyle on fourth day of the 2011 McDonald's Queensland Swimming Championships in Brisbane on Tuesday, December 13.
The 20-year-old Magnussen, who is the national champion of 100m freestyle event, defended his title with great audacity. He also won gold medal of the Men’s 100m freestyle at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
He qualified into the final as top contender for freestyle event. He faced intense competition from Matthew Targett of Melbourne Vicentre and Cameron McEvoy of Southport Olympic SC Inc in the final round.
The Australian veteran improved his timing by just 0.01 seconds in the final round to reserve the podium for gold medal. His impeccable effort remained nearly half a second ahead of the 25-year-old Targett, who ended his swim in second place.
He remained 0.52 seconds behind the gold medallist and reached the finishing end with a wonderful effort of 49.15 seconds for gold medal. The silver medallist was trailed by the 17-year-old McEvoy, who was just 0.04 seconds slower than him and hit the wall
with an effort of 49.19 seconds for bronze medal.
The champion was excited with his gold winning effort, but his coach expected a considerable improvement in his playoff timing. “I was pretty happy with that swim, though I can't really say the same for my coach, he wasn't too pleased,” Magnussen said.
Nevertheless, he articulated that this meet has helped him a lot in identifying his small mistakes, which he needs to improve for the upcoming 2012 London Olympic trials.
“But that's what this meet was about, finding little things that I needed to work on ahead of next year's trials in Adelaide,” Magnussen added.
The crowd was contented with the gruelling effort of their national champion that devastated hopes of his opponents in the 100m discipline while the winners received their accolades after the session.
In addition, the championship will continue for three more days and will conclude on December 16 after the completion of all scheduled swimming events in Men’s and Women’s category.
Tags: