Kenta Ito conquers Men's 100m freestyle heats: Day one – 2011 Swimming World Cup, Tokyo
One of the most talented Japanese swimmers, Kenta Ito, proved his eligibility for the finest qualification spot by conquering the preliminary rounds of Men's 100m freestyle on first day of the 2011 Swimming World Cup in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, November
12.
Tokyo is the concluding stop of the seven-stage World Cup series, organised by the international aquatics sport governing body, Federation Internationale De Natation (FINA).
The 21-year-old Ito overwhelmed the efforts of Kyle Richardson of Australia, Alain Bernard of France and Chad Le Clos of South Africa to cement his top qualification spot in the final round.
The Japanese faced strong competition from his opponents in the four-lap freestyle discipline. With his spectacular stroke and magnificent power, he remained dominant throughout the freestyle swim.
He was the fastest swimmer to leap into the water and completed his first round in a wonderful time of 22.71 seconds. Ito was trailed by Bernard, who appeared as the second fastest swimmer by completing his first half in a fastest time of 23.00 seconds.
The 24-year-old Richardson remained 0.24 seconds behind Bernard and completed his initial half in a time of 23.24 seconds. He was chased by Le Clos, who stayed 0.61 seconds behind his former finisher and reported an effort of 23.85 seconds.
The competition got stiffer in the second round, where Richardson elevated his efforts to defeat Ito. He ended his second half of the event in a fastest time 25.06 seconds but he failed to reach the top of overall rankings list.
Ito completed his final half in a time of 25.38 seconds to post 48.09 seconds for the fastest qualifying position. He was trailed by Richardson, who ended up second with a timing of 48.30 seconds.
The third finest qualification spot was secured by Bernard, who remained just half a second away from Richardson and submitted an effort of 48.80 seconds.
The arena enjoyed breath-taking efforts of all participants, who engaged each other in a neck-to-neck battle to prove their qualification in the final round. Furthermore, these finalists will compete with each other in the playoff to secure their spot on
the victory stand.
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