Madeline Dirado conquers Women’s 400m IM gold medal: Day three – 2011 World University Games
Madeline Dirado of USA won the gold medal of Women’s 400m Individual Medley (IM) on the third day of the 2011 World University Games, which concluded on Tuesday, August 16, in Shenzhen, China.
Dirado captured the gold crown of the distant IM even by posting a top finest time of 4 minutes and 40.79 seconds. She was followed by Miho Takahashi of Japan, who was nearly two seconds slower than the American swimmer and clocked a time of 4 minutes and
42.28 seconds for silver medal. The podium was completed with the presence of Joerdis Steinegger of Austria, who remained 1.02 seconds away from Takahashi and stood on the medal rostrum for bronze medal with a timing of 4 minutes and 43.30 seconds.
Dirado remained inevitably strong for the golden spot from the start of the race, as she completed her first 100m of the swim with a timing of 1 minute and 04.00 seconds. On the contrary, Steinegger completed her first round of the swim by posting a time
of 1 minute and 5.18 seconds, while Takahashi ended her initial 100 metres in a time of 1 minute and 06.24 seconds. In the next round, Dirado extended her lead to almost three seconds over the Austrian and was nearly four seconds ahead of the Japanese swimmer.
Nevertheless, in the third round of the event, Dirado faced a tough battle from Takahashi, as the Japanese gained a slight lead of 0.62 seconds over the American in the third lap. Takahashi clocked a time of 3 minutes and 36.36 seconds, whereas, Dirado posted
3 minutes and 36.98 seconds. Moments later, Dirado accelerated her swim in the final round of the event, where she gained a lead of 1.49 seconds over Takahashi and pocketed the crown of the event.
The fourth fastest spot of the swim was secured by Izumi Kato of Japan, who remained only 0.40 seconds slower than her preceding finisher and touched the wall in 4 minutes and 43.70 seconds. Katheryn Anne Meaklim was the fifth best swimmer of the event,
as she remained 1.28 seconds behind Kato and posted a time of 4 minutes and 44.98 of the event. Andrea Taylor was sighted as the sixth finest swimmer of the IM discipline, as she was 1.42 seconds slower than Meaklim and produced a time of 4 minutes and 46.40
seconds.
In addition, the session ended after commendable swims of all participants in the 400m IM race, while the podium finishers were awarded medals for their phenomenal swims after the meet’s conclusion.
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