James Roberts collects his first international gold medal - 2011 Canet En Roussillon
Australian swimmer, James Roberts, has won his first international gold medal in the 100m freestyle category on the second day of the 2011 Canet En Roussillon.
Roberts, who is the national bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle event, participated in the first international meet and amazed the arena with his astounding swim. His brilliant performance at the third stop of the 2011 Mare Nostrum Series in Canet En
Roussillon has aroused the hopes for a better performance in his fans at the final stop of the event in Monaco.
This series was one of the most interesting of the two-day championships, as the duo of Australian swimmers including Roberts and Matthew Targett, occupied the top two spots on the podium.
Roberts won the gold medal in the 100m freestyle, in an astonishing time of 49.02 seconds. His team-member, Targett followed him on the podium for the silver medal, by touching the wall in a breath-taking time of 49.20 seconds. They were followed by French
swimmers, Jersemy Stravius and Yannick Agnel, who appeared on the finishing wall as the third and fourth fastest swimmers, touching the wall in a time of 49.22 and 49.24 seconds, respectively.
Roberts’s coach, John Fowlie, was happy with his gold winning effort and said, “It’s been an important campaign for us, training at altitude and then competing at the Mare Nostrum Series and I was really happy to finish off the campaign with some great racing
tonight. We’re looking forward to getting home and getting the final preparations done before Shanghai next month.”
These Australian swimmers will join national champion, James Magnussen and former national champion, Eamon Sullivan, to compete in the 4*100m freestyle relay at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July. Their sprints in the 100m event have sent
a clear message to the French relay team.
In addition, Australian swimming head coach, Leigh Nugent, admired the remarkable swims of their national swimmers and said, “The standard was very high tonight, and that’s what we came for.”
Nugent added that the three-week altitude training camp and participation at the French international meets have helped their swimmers to warm-up before the important swimming event in China.
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