Kathryn Hoff claims Women's 200m IM gold: Day three – USA Swimming Grand Prix
Kathryn Elise Hoff of Fast Swim Team-C claimed the title of Women's 200m Individual Medley (IM) on last day of the 2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix. The event took place at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, on Sunday, November 13.
The 22-year-old Hoff qualified in the final round as the third fastest swimmer behind her opponents, Melissa J Franklin and Elizabeth A Pelton. Her former finishers put up a great show to sustain their spots in the playoff but they failed to overcome Hoff's thirst for gold medal in the final round.
Hoff improved her qualification time by almost 3 seconds to cement her place on top of the podium. With her immaculate efforts, she outperformed her competitors and clocked a miraculous time of 2 minutes and 12.02 seconds for gold medal.
Being a part of the USA Swimming team, Hoff won three medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She won a silver medal in the 400m freestyle while two bronze medals in the events of 400m IM and 4*200m freestyle relay.
She also won a gold medal in the distant freestyle relay at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships. Previously, she clinched a gold medal in the 400m freestyle and two silver medals in the events of 200m freestyle and 4*100m freestyle relay at the 2010 Dubai World Championships.
The gold medallist remained 0.21 seconds ahead of Una T2-FL's Pelton, who grabbed silver medal of the event with a phenomenal timing of 2 minutes and 12.23 seconds. The third position was obtained by Franklin of Colorado Stars-C, who remained 0.89 seconds behind her former finisher, producing a time of 2 minutes and 13.12 seconds for bronze medal.
In the meantime, Erika A Erndl of T2 Aquatics-FL emerged on the finishing end and secured fourth position of the event with an effort of 2 minutes and 16.51 seconds.
The arena was delighted with the ruthless efforts of all participants while the medals were awarded to all podium finishers for their incredible efforts in the 200m discipline. In addition, the championship completed after the conclusion of all scheduled events.
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