Keri-Anne Payne, Thomas Lurz clinch 2011 Great Salford Swim title – Swimming news
Keri Anne Payne of Great Britain and Thomas Lurz of Germany have clinched the 2011 Great Salford Swim title.
The nine-time world champion Thomas Lurz wound up first, while Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece came second and Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria settled third in the elite open water swim race.
In the women’s open water swimming final, Cassie Patten of Great Britain took the second title for her country. Meanwhile, Swann Oberson of Switzerland finished third in the respective meet.
“It was a good swim, a good performance and a good day for British swimming. I needed to just go out for it and it went quite well. I felt them [other competitors] attacking my feet but I said 'keep your head down and go,” said Payne.
Lurz completed his distance in the following meet with a sterling time of 16.07.
After the race, he said, “I had a really good start. I wanted to keep the lead until the finish and it worked out well for me. It is a tough course because of lots of turns so I wanted to lead from the front.”
Most fabulously, he broke his previous record of 16.37 set in 2010 in the meet.
Meanwhile, five-time Olympic champion Ian James Thorpe commenting on Lurz’s individual performance in the open water swim this week said that he won the race due to his vast experience and he knows very well how to deliver the best performance. He also said
that it was great to see Lurz breaking his personal record.
David Davies of Great Britain wound up fourth, while his teammate Tom Allen earned fifth in the following meet.
The British Olympic gold medallist Adrian Moorhouse commenting on Anne’s performance in the open water swim stated that she is no doubt in an overwhelming form. She recently won the open water swimming title in Israel and came out victorious again.
Moorhouse further added that she needs to create more burst into her open water swimming style for the challenging meets ahead. Allen was looking extremely good and progressive throughout the challenging race but failed to win the title in the end.
Thorpe said that Payne has dazzling and long strokes that would show her effective form in 2012.
On the other hand, British swimmer Andy Jameson claimed that Lurz’s open water swim was one of the most thrilling races of the day.
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