Leah Cutting occupies Women’s 5km gold: Day three – 2012 Australian Open Water Championships
Norwood’s Leah Cutting went on a rampage to take her final event of the meet as she occupied gold medal of the Women’s 5km discipline on day three of the 2012 Australian Open Water Championships on Sunday, February 19.
The Australian nationals played a crucial role in augmenting skills of their local age group open water players, who will try to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The 19-year-old Cutting, who participated in the Women’s 10km discipline on second day of the championship but failed to claim any medal in the event, served notice of her talent in the 5km discipline and finished first.
She faced strong competition from her following swimmers, Tash Harrison of Lawnton and Zoe Elkerton of Wests Illawarra, but managed to prevail over them for gold medal. The 20-year-old Elkerton remained dominant over Cutting in the first half of the race
but failed to sustain her pace in the second half and lost the title of the 5km event.
The 19-year-old Cutting demonstrated her ruthless aggression in the second half of the race and proved her ascendancy over her rivals for the crown of the event.
With her fascinating efforts, Cutting devastated hopes of her challengers and occupied the podium for gold medal by clocking a time of 1 hour, 03 minutes and 04.70 seconds.
She remained nearly two body lengths ahead of her closest competitor, Harrison, who proved her eligibility for the second position. She stayed only 4.15 seconds behind the champion and settled on the victory stand for silver medal with an effort of 1 hour,
03 minutes and 08.85 seconds.
The third spot of the race was obtained by 18-year-old Elkerton, who was almost three seconds slower from her preceding finisher and concluded her race by clocking a time of 1 hour, 03 minutes and 11.68 seconds.
Cutting was thrilled with her fantastic effort in the 5km event and claimed that she has gained much confidence after her victory. Furthermore, the podium finishers were called upon the victory stand for medals while the championship concluded after the
completion of all scheduled events.
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