Lara Jackson earns gold medal in Women’s 50m freestyle: 2011 Pan American Games
Lara Jackson of United States of America stood up to expectations of her fans on the last evening of the 2011 Pan American Games by clinching the Women’s 50m freestyle title over her strongest rivals, Arlene Semeco and Madison Kennedy in Guadalajara, Mexico,
on Friday, October 21.
Lara was the hot favourite to win the battle over her challengers’ right from the start, as she began with a thrilling splash in the pool and thrashed down her rivals by powering the finishing wall in a nerve wrecking time of 25.09 seconds. More importantly,
Lara broke Arlene Semeco’s previous best meet record of 25.14 seconds set back in 2007. Unfortunately, she was not able to beat her previous best meet record of 24.98 seconds.
In the meantime, Graciele Herrmann of Brazil did not lose her heart and came out strongly by hitting the finishing wall in a mouth shattering time of 25.23 seconds to claim the silver medal of the platform. At the same time, Madison Kennedy earned bronze
medal by touching the finishing wall in the respective meet and ending his swim in a winning time of 25.24 seconds.
The fourth place went to Garcia Vanessa of Puerto Rico with a time of 25.39 seconds, while Semeco claimed fifth position in a time of 25.57 seconds. Additionally, Flavia Delaroli-Cazziolato earned sixth place honours by posting a time of 25.94 seconds. Cazziolato
earned two silver titles in 50m and 100m freestyle events at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games editions, in Domingo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively.
Nadia Colovini of Argentina picked seventh spot with a time of 26.08 seconds and Jennifer Beckberger of Canada settled for eighth position in a time of 26.12 seconds. The striking performances of swimmers’, Lara Jackson, Graciele Herrmann and Madison Kennedy
mesmerised Mexico’s arena and the best athletes were honoured with medals after the end of the final session.
The 2011 Pan American Games is a golden opportunity for young guns to prepare themselves hard for the 2012 Olympic Games, in London.
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