Marieke Guehrer and Matthew Spence capture gold medals – 2011 Australian University Games
Marieke Guehrer and Matthew Spence proved their dominance in Women’s and Men’s 50m butterfly respectively, on the second day of the 2011 Australian University Games. The session was scheduled at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre and concluded on September 28, 2011.
University of Melbourne’s Guehrer, who was the highlight of the championship, continued her winning streak by overwhelming the efforts of her following swimmers. Her immaculate butterfly strokes made her distinct as she hurried towards the finishing wall
for gold medal of the 50m event.
With her astonishing 26.93 seconds effort, Guehrer snatched the title of the event and lowered her own championship mark. She set the previous mark at the 2009 University Games, where Guehrer clocked a time of 27.80 seconds for gold medal.
Nevertheless, the champion’s alluring strokes and nerve-wrecking speed placed her nearly one second ahead of her strongest competitor, University of Sydney’s Mel Houghton, who hit the wall with a timing of 28.11 seconds and stood on the podium for silver
medal.
Houghton’s team-mate, Emma Gray was the third fastest swimmer of the event, as she remained only a touch away from her following swimmer, Griffith University’s Ashleigh McCleery. However, the 21-year-old Gray proved her pre-eminence for bronze medal as she
was just half a stroke away from her preceding swimmer and ended her swim in a time of 28.51 seconds.
In the meantime, University of NSW’s Spence presented a spectacular effort in the Men’s equivalent event. The 25-year-old Spence devastated the hopes of his fellow swimmers and performed tremendously in the butterfly discipline. His aggressive strokes and
long reach played a vital role in placing him on top of the podium.
He faced stiff competition from his following swimmer, University of Sydney’s Sam McConnell, who was neck-to-neck with Spence throughout the single-lap swim. Spence produced a time of 25.37 seconds to cement his position for gold medal, while McConnell was
just 0.10 seconds slower than him and submitted a time of 25.47 seconds for silver medal.
Spence’s expeditious leg strokes in the final 10 metres of the race facilitated him in reaching the other end of the pool as the fastest swimmer. Furthermore, the competition was even stiffer between the silver medallist and Shane Kingsbury, as the latter
was just a nail away from him and settled on the podium for bronze medal with a timing of 25.49 seconds.
Guehrer and Spence received a huge round of applause from Queensland’s crowd for their notable efforts in the single-lap swim. In addition, the winners expressed their desire of representing Australia at higher levels of international swimming.
Tags: